


Returning Fire

by CrossingTheFourthWall



Series: Maria's Adventures [8]
Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Gen, TF: P events for the second season, gonna have some extra things in there too, wrote this one three years ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-09 21:03:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 47
Words: 154,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11677035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrossingTheFourthWall/pseuds/CrossingTheFourthWall
Summary: Back home after a wild ride of discovery and memory recovery, Maria finds herself pulled into a war that has been happening in the background of her home world.





	1. Chapter 1

"We have to get over to Nevada," a teenage girl muttered, her blue eyes narrow as she paced on the sidewalk. "With something like _that_ so close, they're going to need our help."

"You don't know that," came a reply from a young woman with crystalline blue eyes. "This could've happened before --"

"The whole nearly world-shattering thing happened _here_ before it happened _there_!" the teenager retorted, stopping her pacing. "Wildfire, they could end up getting offlined, or worse!"

The woman leaned out of the red and orange sports car she was sitting in and poked the teenager in the chest. "Keep your voice down, Maria. I'd rather not get _more_ attention than we already _have_ been because of you and those video games!"

Maria ducked her head and took a step back from the accusing finger, holding up her hands in surrender. "Sorry... _Frieda_. Got a little carried away there." She looked up and down the street, glancing at the book shop behind her. "All the same, I don't like sitting on my hands when something big is going down in Nevada and they aren't letting anybody within a hundred miles of that citadel. _Especially_ after what happened to...Jasper...." Maria hung her head at the thought of the destruction, and her orange jacket and red shirt flickered for a moment.

"Hey." Frieda's face softened from the hard glare it had been a moment before. "Joshua and... _Justin_ have been poking around. They found out that everybody that was in Jasper had been evacuated before the town had been destroyed."

"Yeah. Khrista told me." Maria looked back up at the woman, her brown hair shifting slightly as a breeze came down the street. The wind didn't cause Frieda's red-gold hair to move, however. "It's got to be hard on the kids, though. I just hope that --"

"They're going to be fine, and you know it," Frieda stated seriously. "Come on; Collin and your mom are coming out."

Maria turned to face the bookstore and caught sight of her short, blond-haired younger brother coming out with a plastic bag on his arm and a woman with black, frizzy hair and green eyes following after him.

"Got everything?" Maria asked as the two came up to the car.

Mrs. Carlsdale nodded. "It took him a while, but we managed to find _something_." She looked down at the eight-year-old meaningfully.

Collin grinned. "They had a display of Go-Bots at the front of the store, so I managed to grab one." He held up the bag as proof of this.

"All right. Let's head home." Maria walked around to the passenger's side of the car and slipped into the back seat as Mrs. Carlsdale moved into the front seat.

Collin wriggled in to sit next to his sister, shutting the door as Frieda started the car. "The guy who helped us said he had a nephew in Jasper. Someone named Vince."

Maria stiffened upon hearing the name. Frieda glanced back through the rearview, but didn't take her full attention away from the road.

"Vince?" Maria repeated.

"Yeah." Collin nodded. "He said he'd managed to talk to him last night; Vince was unhappy about losing his house, but was glad he still had his hot rod. Whatever that is."

"You'd think that would be the name for someone," Frieda muttered. "He may as well _name_ his car that."

"You've met him?" Collin asked, looking at Frieda in surprise.

"Another time, another place," Maria murmured quietly. A slight smile appeared on her face. "Judging from what he said, it sounds like he isn't any different."

"Won't know until we see him," Frieda replied. She turned a corner and started up another street. "If we see him."

"A pretty big if," Mrs. Carlsdale stated.

"Mom, you know that's not going to stop us from checking up on our friends," Maria spoke up boldly. "Citadel or no citadel, I'm going."

"They handled the earthquakes just fine," came the woman's reply. "You're not going."

"You're tied into this as much as I am."

The black-haired woman turned around in her seat and glared at her eldest daughter. "Do _not_ bring me into this. I stopped being involved when Vector Prime brought us home."

"With all due respect, Katie, I don't think you did," Frieda replied, a knowing smirk appearing on her face. Maria's own expression mimicked the woman's seconds later.

"Now, you two --"

A beeping noise suddenly came from the dashboard, causing Mrs. Carlsdale to stop short. Everyone stared at the dashboard seconds before Frieda spoke in grave tones.

"We've got a Bot in the area."

Maria was instantly on the alert, looking out the window of the door next to her and peering out the back window. "Where, Wildfire?"

"They're behind us somewhere. Can you see them?"

"There's a yellow and black car over there," Collin spoke up suddenly, pointing out the back window.

Maria craned her head and caught sight of a striped sports car behind a red pickup truck. The windows were blacked out, making it difficult to see who was driving.

Or if there even _was_ a driver.

Green script slid across Maria's vision, feeding her data on energy signatures before and after the others' were removed from the scanners. The data almost looked like....

Maria frowned, then turned around to face the front again. "Wildfire, do you have any Energon with you?"

"Yeah. I was planning on going to the usual place to meet with the others after dropping you off." Frieda didn't even respond to the sudden change of names.

"Could you go straight there and let the others know that there's a Bot? Something tells me something bad's going down if he's _this_ far out."

"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Carlsdale demanded, turning her gaze to Maria.

"Who is it?" Collin asked, giving Maria a pleading expression.

"You'll see," Frieda stated calmly in reply. "And Katie, you might recognize the kid when we get there. War or no war, some mechs never change."

"Kid?" Collin repeated, cocking his head.

Maria gave a smirk. "Like she said, you'll see."

Frieda flipped a switch next to the radio as she turned the wheel again with one hand. "Inferno here. I've got some familiar company following my tail. Meet me at the usual place with an extra cube and some of Morgen's lunch."

There was a crackle of static, then a response with a teenage boy's voice.

_ ::Bot with a kid?:: _

"Bot with a kid," Frieda confirmed.

_ ::All right. We'll be on the lookout for you guys:: _

There was a click, and Frieda flipped the switch again before taking another turn. The red and orange car was now rolling down a street with houses on either side. As they passed two houses in particular, two vehicles -- a light blue car, and a gray car with one red stripe and one yellow stripe coming over the driver's side -- rolled off the driveways and started after the two sports cars, blocking the yellow and black one from making any sudden moves to get away.

"You said there's someone else in there?" Collin asked, turning around again to look out the rear window.

"Yup," came Frieda's reply.

"Do you know him?"

"Yes and no," Maria replied. Seeing the looks she was getting from both her mother and her brother, she added, "It's an alternate dimension thing."

"So you _don't_ know him," Collin concluded.

"Not this one."

Frieda turned off the main road and rolled onto a dirt road that led into a nearby forest. The rest of the line of cars followed after her, leaving the paved road behind. After a couple minutes, the trees around them falling back to create a wide clearing of grass. Except for the large blue semi, the yellow moped, and the red and white ambulance, it almost looked like the place was untouched by technology.

Frieda stopped in the middle of the clearing, and the door popped open on their own. "All right. Everybody out."

Maria and Collin looked at each other, grinned, then scrambled out of the backseat, Collin taking his bag and newfound toy with him. Mrs. Carlsdale followed suit, although she was more dignified in her scrambling.

As soon as the passengers were out of the car, Frieda suddenly fizzled out in a flash of light. And then the car itself started to shift form, growing and expanding in size until a large figure stood with a red and orange flame design covering their armor. The frame of the figure was clearly feminine, despite the fact that the form was more bulky.

Maria looked up at the large robot, grinning, then looked over at the yellow and black sports car as the other vehicles that were already in the clearing -- and the two other cars that had come along -- started to transform.

The yellow and black car seemed to stiffen. Almost. Then one of the doors opened upwards -- almost like a wing -- and a small boy with spiky brown hair and a blue backpack came out. He looked up at the fiery robot in surprise and awe as the sports car he had just stepped out of transformed, as well.

Wide, blue optics looked around the clearing in shock, then settled on the small figures standing around the feet of the other large, robotic figures.

** "N-no way...." ** the former car muttered in beeps and whirs. **"You guys didn't leave Cybertron with us -- we weren't told --"**

"Optimus never told you what happened?" the red and orange femme asked, frowning. ****

** "Told us what? That you disappeared during the raid on Kaon Prison?" **

"There was more to that, Bumblebee."

"Bee, do you know these guys?" the brown-haired boy asked, looking up at the now-named Autobot.

Bumblebee blinked for a moment, then glanced down at the boy before looking back at the other robotic figures. **"Yeah. These guys are Autobots, but I didn't think they'd managed to get here."**

"Let's get introductions out of the way for the kid," the flame-covered femme stated. "This is my team. First Aid, our medic."

The red and white femme standing where the ambulance had been gave a nod.

"Jolt, our...mechanic."

The neon blue mech who had been the blue sports car smirked and gave a wave, his servo shooting off sparks.

"Shape-Change, spy and weapons expert."

The gray femme -- with a single red stripe and a single yellow stripe running down one side of her form -- gave a respectful nod to the brown-haired boy.

"Sparkseer, my second in command."

The mech who had formerly been the blue semi gripped the tall, gold spear in his servo and gave a nod. "You have a strong spirit, youngling. Even if it has been previously tainted with Dark Energon."

The boy stared at him in shock, causing Sparkseer to give an apologetic smile.

"My apologies," the mech stated. "I couldn't help but see the flare of your aura when we transformed."

"Whoa...." The boy turned his attention to the flame-covered femme. "And you? Who are you?"

"The name's Wildfire," the femme replied, smirking. "And you, kid?"

"Raf." There came a growling noise from the boy's stomach, and he looked down.

Maria let out a laugh. "We figured you might be hungry. Come on; Dad brought lunch for the lot of us."

"Even for the Bot," spoke a man with dark hair and bright, blue eyes. "Come over here, you two." He motioned for the pair to come over as Jolt pulled two cubes filled with glowing blue liquid from somewhere behind his back.

Bumblebee's optics widened, and he was over at Jolt's side in an instant. **"Energon! How --"**

"Joshua has a mine below his underground lab," Jolt explained. "I've been showing him how to refine it for some time now."

Bee accepted the cube handed to him and glugged it down. Maria caught sight of the guard on his mouth pulling back as the cube was emptied, but then she turned her attention to Raf as he accepted a sandwich from her father.

"Energon signals probably aren't the reason you're in the area, though," Maria stated, coming over to the boy.

Raf looked over, blinking in confusion. "And you are?"

Maria gave a sheepish smile. "My name's Maria. Sorry, I forgot to introduce my family and neighbors. Joshua lives on the edge of town and hangs out with Jolt most of the time. You could say that he's our inventor, I guess, considering that he's managed to make an underground lab out here."

She motioned to a teenage boy with indigo eyes who was looking over a tablet with a frown on his face.

"His cousin, Khrista, lives across the street and is watched over by SC."

Maria motioned to a girl with light brown hair and blue eyes, who was sitting on one of Shape-Change's feet, eating a sandwich.

Raf blinked, then his eyes widened. "Is that a...yellow Master Ball on her shirt?"

Maria looked down at the boy in surprise. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"She was all over the news not too long ago -- something happened...." Raf turned his wide-eyed gaze to Maria. "Does that mean you're --"

"Maybe," Maria replied coolly, chuckling. "Let me finish introductions first, and I'll tell you whether you're right or not."

The next person Maria pointed out was a tall young man with dark brown hair and blue eyes standing near Sparkseer. He looked over when Maria pointed and raised a hand in greeting.

"That's my older brother, Matthew. Sparkseer's been with him since he was six -- and Wildfire's been my guardian since I was five. Next eldest is Liz, my sister, who's been spending time with First Aid."

A girl with dark hair and in a dark blue jacket let out a laugh at a joke that had been told her by Collin, who was standing next to a short, yellow mech with glowing blue Energon lines that were all over his form. 

"And then there's the youngest of my family, Collin, and his friend Coil. He's been hanging around with Wildfire's team, but he's still a bit young to be going out on missions."

"Young?" Raf repeated, blinking in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say the kid is something new Shockwave cooked up and has been growing from Mini-Con size ever since," Wildfire stated grimly from above the two. "What Maria said is right, though -- Energon can't be the only reason you came out to the Midwest."

Raf looked a little nervous. "Uh...yeah. It isn't. You saw the thing in Nevada, right?"

"It's been all over the news," Maria's father replied grimly. "I'm Morgen Carlsdale, Maria's father, and you have _no idea_ how hard it's been to keep her here."

"Dad, you know these guys better than I do," Maria responded. "And you _know_ that something bad's going down when those fusion cannons went off!" She motioned in a direction off over the trees wildly, glaring at her father.

"I don't know if you'd be able to help," Raf spoke up. He looked like he wasn't quite sure of what to make of Maria's outburst. "But if you could help me find everybody else --"

"Find them?" Wildfire frowned. "You split up?"

** "We kinda had to," ** Bumblebee replied. **"The Cons knew where our base was, so Optimus wasn't about to let us stick around."**

"They _knew where your base was_?!" Maria yelled in alarm. "Primus above, things are going downhill fast!"

Raf looked at Maria in alarm, while Bumblebee's optics widened. "You...you understand him?"

"A part of my heritage." Maria shook her head, then turned her full attention to the boy. "Any idea where your allies are?"

"...one of them is in a junkyard. We were trying to find our way there when Bee saw Wildfire and decided to tail her." Raf motioned to the flame-covered femme.

"Junkyard?" Wildfire glanced over at Jolt. "Don't you and Joshua usually go to one of those to get parts?"

"Yeah, we do," came Joshua's reply. The indigo eyed teenager was finally looking up from his tablet at the goings-on around him, and he had quite the thoughtful look on his face. "It's actually not that far from here."

Wildfire gave a nod. "All right. Jolt, take Joshua and lead Bee and Raf to the junkyard. Aid, go with them in case whoever it is needs medical attention."

The neon blue mech and red and white femme gave a nod and said, "Right."

Bee snorted. **"I don't think Ratchet's going to need medical attention."**

Everyone looked at the yellow and black sports car in surprise.

"Ratchet?" First Aid asked softly. "He's there?"

Raf looked over at the red and white femme with some confusion. "Uh...yeah. Do you know him?"

First Aid gave a nod. "Yes...but it's been so long...."

"You should probably stay here, then," Wildfire stated, turning to look at the medic. "And Jolt and I will go and see about bringing him back here."

"I'm coming, too," Maria stated quickly.

"As am I."

Maria turned her head and locked her gaze with her father. "Dad? Why would you --"

"You forget -- I know the bots even more than you do," Morgen replied lightly, smirking.

Raf blinked in confusion upon hearing the adult's statement. Maria, however, gave a wide grin.

"Do you think he knows you're here?" Maria asked in a playful manner.

"Well, we'll find out, won't we?" Morgen's responded in kind. He looked up at Wildfire with a mischievous grin, which was returned by the femme.

Bumblebee looked at the two of them in complete confusion, Raf mimicking his expression as Wildfire shifted down into her alt mode.

Maria watched the black and yellow mech for a moment, considering what exactly she could say while her father climbed into the passenger's side of Wildfire's alt mode. After a moment, however, the Reploid grinned and asked, "Do they still use those code names that you picked up on Cybertron, Bee?"

Bumblebee jolted out of surprise, his gears whirring in response to Maria's statement. **"Code names? What --"** He cut himself off as his optics widened. **"No way...but that can't be possible!"**

"What do you mean, Bee?" Raf asked, looking up at the Autobot in confusion.

Bumblebee spluttered as Maria slipped into the backseat of Wildfire's alt form; she could hear Jolt shifting behind her as she shut the door behind her.

"You just had to bait him, didn't you?" Wildfire asked dryly as the holoform appeared in the driver's seat.

"Well, why not?" Maria responded. "I mean, they're going to learn sooner or later because of Dad and Ratchet, aren't they?"

Outside the car, Bumblebee shifted down to his alt mode and let Raf climb inside. The boy looked a little bit confused as to what was happening around him.

Wildfire gave a hum in response. "But that doesn't mean you have to tell him now." Her engine started to rumble, and the Autobot started moving forward. As though that movement had given the others a signal of some kind, Jolt's sports car mode rolled out in front of Wildfire and out of the clearing, Bumblebee on his heels, and Wildfire herself bringing up the rear.

"What makes you say that?" Morgen asked, raising an eyebrow at the holoform. "Were you planning on keeping it a secret?"

Wildfire smirked. "I wanted to surprise them."

_ ::I doubt that we are going to be keeping it a secret for long:: _ Jolt commented over the comm-link. _::Considering that we are about to find the Doc, well...we just might be able to find the others::_ He sounded humored as he spoke his next statement. _::Maybe Jazz is already on the planet, eh, Wildfire?::_

Wildfire's holoform stiffened a little while Maria gained an eager expression.

"It would be cool to see him again," Maria commented. "The last time I saw him, it was an alternate version of him."

"The last time _I_ saw him was back on Cybertron," Morgen countered. "And I'd like to be able to meet Mr. Coolsville again." He grinned hugely while Maria let out a laugh at the statement.


	2. Chapter 2

The group of three Autobots and four humans drove a short distance out of town, arriving at the junkyard that Jolt and Joshua knew about within fifteen minutes.

During that time, Maria let her mind wander among her memories -- specifically those that involved the Autobots themselves. It took her only seconds to find herself back in the gigantic, metal rooms, carried everywhere by warm, metal hands. Seeing familiar faces looking down at her curiously....

In one particular instance, she remembered a large, red and white mech with a somewhat grumpy attitude helping another mech to his feet after he had collapsed from a glitch.

"We're here," Wildfire stated, bringing Maria out of her memory banks and back to the present. "Welcome to Jolt's Junkheap."

 _::This is a junk_ yard _, not a junk_ heap _::_ Jolt corrected over the comm-link as Maria looked around the area. Piles of metal garbage were piled high over their heads, and the Reploid had to crane her neck as she stepped out of Wildfire's alt mode to look at the top of some of the piles.

"At least you didn't say it's a landscape of art," Morgen commented, climbing out after Maria. "So, where's the mech?"

Bumblebee let Raf out of his alt mode, beeping, **"He's just a little bit further ahead."**

"That ambulance?" Joshua asked, standing next to Jolt's alt.

**"Yeah -- hey, wait, how did you--"**

"Heritage."

Maria rolled her eyes at Joshua's statement, then started walking forward, Raf remaining ahead of the teenager while Morgen kept in stride with his daughter. Wildfire and Bumblebee rolled after them, not bothering to transform out of their alt modes. They soon joined Joshua and Jolt at the edge of a clearing in the junkyard, and the group looked out over the area.

It didn't take them too long to find the one metal-made thing that they were looking for.

Maria spotted it rather quickly, then tapped her father on the shoulder and motioned towards a vehicle that looked like it was far too good a condition to be sitting in the middle of a junkyard.

Morgen followed Maria's motion, then gained an interested expression as his eyebrows shot up. He gave Maria a curious look, and when she gave a nod, Morgen started forward.

The only adult of the group walked around the ambulance, inspecting the red and white paint job with a critical eye. "This is him?"

"Yeah," Raf responded, "but I don't think he's going to do anything with you guys here."

Morgen shot the spiky-haired kid a large grin. "We'll see about that." He walked around to the front of the vehicle and got down in a kneeling position in front of the grill. Then he yelled loudly, "Hey, Wrenchie! How's your aim, you old geezer?"

The ambulance stiffened upon hearing Morgen's yell, letting out a honk of alarm. Maria attempted to stifled a laugh at her father's antics...but she failed miserably and nearly doubled over.

Raf looked startled. " _Wrenchie?_ Where did _that_ name come from?"

"Code names, kiddo," Morgen replied, waving a hand back at the group. His gaze never left the grill of the ambulance, however. "That was one of the suggestions we came up with, but we ended up settling with 'Doc' instead." Morgen snickered. "But that didn't stop us from calling him 'Dr. Wrench' sometimes."

The red and white vehicle rolled back a foot suddenly, seeming to shift on its axles. "Morgen? Is that _you?"_

Maria recognized the amazed voice that came from the vehicle and visibly relaxed, grinning.

"In the flesh!" Morgen replied as he got to his feet, grinning. "What are you doing hanging around here, you old medic? This place isn't meant for mechs like you."

"Mr. Carlsdale, you know Ratchet?" Raf asked in confusion. "How? Optimus said there wasn't anyone else who knew that they were on Earth besides us and the government."

"What Optimus _said_ and what Optimus _knows_ are two very different things," Maria replied, grinning. "There's probably tons of stuff he hasn't told you about Cybertron yet."

"My family and I are giving Raf and Bee a hand in finding you guys so that we can take down that tower out in Nevada," Morgen explained to the ambulance.

"Good luck," Ratchet replied sourly. "Because I'm not going to help."

Morgen frowned. "Not going to help? What do you mean by that, old man?"

"Megatron's won; there's no point."

Maria stiffened a little when she heard that, and she glanced back at the three cars that had brought them there. Two of them had shifted on their wheels, but one of them...

Raf gained a concerned look. "You're giving up? Just like that?"

"Don't give up now, Ratchet!" Jolt shifted out of his vehicle mode and stood over the ambulance. "Come on -- where's the mech who kept us going after First Aid disappeared?"

The ambulance's engine revved, and the whole vehicle shifted to reveal a red and white mech with a sour look on his face. A large wrench appeared in his servo, and he shook it at Jolt. "First Aid _offlined_ , you pesky youngling! She didn't disappear -- you heard incorrectly!"

"Well, at least some things are the same in the universe," Maria murmured under her breath, eyeing the wrench in Ratchet's servo. She thought back to the last time she had seen a wrench that size -- which wasn't all that long ago -- and silently smirked at the memories that came with it.

"Actually, sir, Jolt didn't," Joshua spoke up respectfully from near Jolt's feet. "We didn't know until recently that she had actually survived the blast unharmed, and had been transferred to another place."

Ratchet blinked in alarm and took a step back, looking back and forth between Joshua and the blue mech. _"Jolt?_ But we were told you were --"

 **"Believe me, Ratchet, there are a lot more surprises where _he_ came from,"** Bumblebee spoke up, not shifting from his alt mode.

"Like me," Wildfire added, sounding clearly amused. "And Maria here." She nudged Maria from behind with the front bumper of her alternate mode, producing a surprised yelp from the Reploid...as well as a soft _clang_ from the contact.

"Wildfire, don't do that," Maria complained, turning to look at the red and orange sports car behind her. "It feels weird."

"Maria?" Ratchet repeated. The Reploid turned when she heard her name, and caught sight of the shocked expression in the medic's optics.

"Heh heh...hi?" Maria gave a wave to the mech in front of her. "Long time no see, Ratch." A grin appeared on her face. "Jolt's telling the truth, you know. If you'll follow us back to our meeting place, we can make sure you get stocked up on Energon and don't have any dents on ya."

Ratchet looked even more disconcerted upon hearing that from Maria. "No...impossible...."

Jolt coughed. "Actually...."

Wildfire honked her horn suddenly. "Small talk is nice and all, but we should be getting back and talking where everyone else is." She popped open the door on the passenger's side of her vehicle mode. "Come on, Maria. We'll head back now and let the others know you're coming."

"But what about--"

"I'll ride with Ratchet," Morgen stated, waving his daughter on. "Get going, you. You've got a femme to warn."

Maria gave her father a cautious look, but then relented with a slight nod before she climbed into Wildfire's interior. The door closed behind her of its own accord, and Wildfire backed up before driving out of the junkyard.

Moments later, two other cars and a certain ambulance were following after them.

Wildfire's radio crackled with static, and Jolt said, _::I'm letting Ratchet and Bumblebee in on our frequency::_

Ratchet's voice came through moments later. _::Are you sure this is wise, Jolt? Soundwave could--::_

_::Maria, Joshua, and I managed to find a frequency that Soundwave might not know about quite yet. I know it sounds strange, but we're using a frequency similar to that used by a group of humans in an alternate dimension::_

_::Alternate dimension?::_ Raf suddenly spoke up, startled.

"The Justice League," Maria explained, smirking to herself. "I got the idea not too long ago, and I suggested that Jolt and Josh hunt it down. We're lucky that they did, too."

Ratchet made a spluttering noise, but then he asked, _::Is this how you've managed to keep your Sparks shielded from Optimus and Megatron?::_

 _::That involves a lot of space/time warping curtesy of one Vector Prime::_ Joshua responded.

 _::We'll explain more when we get back::_ Jolt added. _::There's a_ lot _of science involved::_

There came a spluttering noise from the medic, prompting a laugh from Maria.

"Don't forget my abilities," Maria commented with a snicker. Another thought occurred to her, and her grin got to be even wider. "I wonder if Optimus is going to glitch again when he sees us."

Wildfire let out a short bark of laughter. "Hah! Optimus Prime glitching after who knows _how_ long the war went on Cybertron? That would be a sight to see."

 _::Optimus_ glitched _when he first met you?::_ Raf suddenly spoke up in surprise. _::When did that happen?::_

 _::That was a long time ago on Cybertron::_ Ratchet commented in reply. He sounded somewhat shaken. _::However, it seems that it has only been twelve years for the humans we met back then::_

_::But...how is that even possible? Joshua mentioned something about a...a 'Vector Prime?'::_

_::An ancient Cybertronian -- one of the first Thirteen Primes. It's said that he was capable of warping both time and space, but I never thought that he would do such a thing so recently...Jolt, when did you arrive here on Earth?::_

_::Twelve years ago::_ came the blue mech's reply. _::I met Joshua then, but I didn't reveal myself to him until last year. He might have figured it out eventually, though::_

 _::I probably would have::_ Joshua agreed. _::Considering what happened, though, I'm glad you told me when you did::_

"Wildfire didn't show up until a pretty big event a couple months back," Maria commented. "Something about coming back home made both me and Matt forget that we ever went to Cybertron, but we got our memories jogged when Wildfire and Sparkseer decided enough was enough."

 _::Wait...you guys really went to Cybertron?::_ Raf asked, sounding like he was trying to wrap his head around what was being said.

 _::Well, just me, my wife, and my two oldest kids::_ Morgen responded. _::Their younger siblings and friends were brought into all of this later::_

 _::You have MORE in your brood?!::_ Ratchet sounded severely dismayed at this news. His reaction caused Morgen to roar with laughter.

"Hey now," Maria responded, annoyed. "Don't dis Liz and Collin. I happen to like my little siblings."

 _::And my cousin is no slouch, either::_ Joshua added.

Ratchet grumbled something that Maria couldn't catch.

"We're almost there, Ratchet," Wildfire spoke up. "Just a few more miles."

True to Wildfire's word, the group of four vehicles soon arrived back in the forest clearing that Wildfire had led Bumblebee into earlier.

The humans climbed out of their respective vehicles and cleared out of the way of the femme and mechs so that they could transform. Morgen ended up leading the group over to the other humans in the clearing, leaving the mechs and femmes already there to watch as the arrivals shifted into their bi-pedal forms.

"So, who's the ambulance?" Liz asked, looking at her older sister curiously.

"That's a grumpy old medic," Maria responded, grinning as Ratchet transformed. "He's one of the Autobots that Optimus is really close with."

If the medic heard the humans conversing, he gave no sign. His optics were practically glued to another red and white Autobot standing in front of him.

Wildfire grinned at Jolt and Bumblebee, who exchanged amused looks with her before they went over to the humans.

"First Aid?" Ratchet asked, looking like he couldn't believe his optics.

The named femme gave a slight smile. "It's me, Ratchet."

Ratchet looked a little unsteady on his feet. He started forward, looking like he was about to collapse. First Aid was quick to move forward to catch him. The next thing everybody watching knew, the two somehow ended up meeting each other halfway in a hug.

"I didn't think that Ratchet was ever _that_ friendly with a femme," Matthew commented from where he stood behind Maria.

The Reploid jumped a little when she heard her older brother's voice, and she turned and glanced back at him. "Yeah, that is kinda weird...."

"I don't think it is," Morgen commented, exchanging a knowing look with his wife. At the same time, Wildfire and Sparkseer exchanged knowing looks far above their heads, but said nothing.

"What are you doing here?" Ratchet asked, backing out of the hug in order to give First Aid a good look. "I thought you were --"

"Vector Prime seemed to have other ideas for me," First Aid replied, smiling. "The same goes for the rest of the team. You should see how Coil has grown."

"Coil?" Ratchet turned his helm, catching sight of the aforementioned yellow mech, who was standing next to Jolt and behind Collin.

"Hi," Coil stated, giving the mech a quick wave.

The medic's optic ridges went up. "He _has_ grown. When was the last time he had a checkup?"

Coil's optics widened upon hearing the word, then retreated behind Jolt and peered around the neon blue mech's waist.

Collin frowned in disapproval at his friend. "Why are you so scared? It's just a check-up."

"There have been some...difficulties with that," First Aid replied. "Mainly because of where we've been for nearly twelve Earth years."

Ratchet returned his attention to First Aid, and he frowned. "What, exactly, do you mean by that?"

Wildfire snorted. "Vector Prime pulled a fast one on us. Not only did he warp time and space to get us to Earth, but he stuck us in the _heads_ of the human teenagers here. We spent a good twelve years like that."

Ratchet snorted. "Impossible."

Maria exchanged glances with her siblings, a smirk starting to cross her face.

"After what I've seen with Maria?" Wildfire looked down at the Reploid. "I'm not sure if there's anything that is impossible anymore."

Maria's grin became perceptively wider when she heard that.

"I agree," Sparkseer said, nodding. "There are many things that I have seen that I would have previously thought to be impossible."

"And we haven't seen all that much," Matthew agreed.

Ratchet scanned the group around him, frowning. "I have not heard of strange events taking place in any location of the country."

"What about all the kids that disappeared in this area of the Midwest?" Khrista spoke up, frowning. "That should have gotten a lot of attention."

"We did end up hearing about that," Raf spoke up suddenly. "My parents didn't want us to go to school in case we ended up getting kidnapped ourselves."

 **"Yeah, I remember that,"** Bumblebee agreed. **"Optimus was a little concerned about that and wanted you guys to stay at the base for a while."**

"What did he say?" Liz asked in confusion.

"He said that Optimus wanted us to stay at the base," Raf explained, looking over at Liz. He frowned. "Hey...Maria's your sister, right? So why is it that you can't understand Bee when she can?"

Liz blinked a couple times before frowning. "That's just how Maria is."

"We heard that the issue was resolved and that the children were returned to their rightful homes," Ratchet said, looking at Khrista.

Khrista snorted. "Do you really think that was it? A Pokemon video game came out sometime after with a girl and this shirt on the cover." Khrista motioned to her dull red T-shirt and the yellow Master Ball that adorned it. "That girl happens to be me."

"I knew it!" Raf exclaimed. He turned and looked at Maria. "And you appeared at the end to get everyone home -- that happened too, didn't it?"

"Yeah." Maria smirked. "Khrista couldn't get everyone home on her own, so I was their main ticket home."

Ratchet frowned. "What is it that you're speaking of?"

"You remember that video game Miko brought into the base?" Raf asked, looking up at the medic. "The one that you said completely broke physics?"

The red and white mech snorted. "Of course I remember. It is impossible for a human to be capable of passing through walls like that game claimed."

Khrista smirked, and her shirt started to shift colors. The red faded away, becoming more of a gray color...and Khrista promptly walked through Ratchet's foot.

"You mean like that?" Khrista asked, her shirt shifting back to its dull red while Ratchet lifted his foot in alarm.

"How did you--"

"It's just something that I can do. And I'm not the only one with superpowers, either."

"Yeah," Maria agreed. "I wasn't called Flare-Up in other places for nothing." She held up her hands, and a fireball materialized on her palms before she started bouncing it back and forth in her hands. "See?"

Ratchet looked absolutely flabbergasted at the sight of the fireball in Maria's hands.

"Whoa." Raf's jaw dropped. "Superheroes really _do_ exist."

Maria let the fire dissipate while Morgen chuckled.

"There's more to my kids than just what Maria showed you," Morgen said, clearly amused. "I'm surprised at everything they can do."

"You mean you all have superpowers?" Raf asked in surprise.

"Not the two of us," Katie responded, shaking her head at the boy. "Our children, however...." She eyed Matthew, Maria, Liz, and Collin.

Matthew chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, looking embarrassed at the attention he was getting from Raf and Bumblebee. "Yeah, Maria and Khrista aren't the only ones with superpowers."

"We probably shouldn't be showing off right now, though," Liz spoke up warningly. "We have a problem with those Decepticon guys, right?"

"Indeed," Sparkseer commented in agreement. "As well as the issue that Optimus Prime and his team have been apparently scattered. Is that correct, Raf?"

Raf nodded. "Yeah. We had to leave the base because Megatron knew where it was. He ended up building a tower right next to it."

Maria's eyes widened in alarm.

"How'd he build that thing, anyway?" Wildfire asked, looking over at Ratchet. "What's been going on in the war since we left?"

The mech looked uneasy, and he glanced over at First Aid for a moment before speaking. "After we forced Unicron back to his slumber, Optimus reverted to his pre-Prime state of Orion Pax. We managed to find a way to get him back to his normal self, but in the meantime, Megatron used Orion's knowledge of decoding to start to wear away at the Iacon database."

"The what?" Collin asked.

"A database of knowledge on everything we did back on Cybertron," Wildfire explained.

Maria nodded absently, remembering what had happened when she had followed Orion Pax the last time that she had left home.

"And it was coded in Autobot codes that Optimus was familiar with as far back as before he became Prime, as he had previously worked in the Hall of Records as a data clerk," Ratchet confirmed. "Megatron discovered in this way that there were relics from our home world scattered about the planet, and he planned to set out and look for them so that he would be able to use them against us. We were forced to race against him in order to discover the relics and use them against Megatron. We had...some wins and some losses."

Wildfire and Maria exchanged glances before looking back at Ratchet as he continued his tale.

"Eventually, we discovered four relics known as Omega Keys, which could be used on a device referred to as the Omega Lock, located on Cybertron. Megatron succeeded in obtaining all four through Starscream's treachery, but Optimus came up with a plan to win them back before Megatron could activate the Omega Lock."

"What is this Omega Lock supposed to do?" Joshua inquired.

"It was meant to restore Cybertron to its original glory." Ratchet let out a wishful sigh before his face shifted to a scowl. "And if the Decepticons were to activate it and restore Cybertron, then they may as well be considered winners in the war. As it was, Optimus and the others were able to succeed in regaining the Omega Keys, and would have activated the Omega Lock themselves had Starscream not kidnapped the children and brought them to Cybertron."

"Starscream did _what_?" First Aid repeated in alarm.

"A hostage situation," Shape-Change noted, frowning.

"Megatron said that he was going to expose us to Cybertron's poisonous atmosphere if Optimus didn't hand the keys over," Raf spoke up. "And he was planning on turning Earth into a second Cybertron -- starting in Jasper!"

Jolt flinched when he heard that. "If that happened, then all the humans on the planet--"

"Would most likely perish," Joshua finished grimly.

"So Optimus destroyed the Omega Lock," Raf said, nodding. "But Megatron still managed to terraform part of the planet."

"That beam we saw a few days ago!" Liz realized.

"And that tower that suddenly appeared," Maria murmured quietly, remembering the vision she had experienced at that point in time.

"Optimus ordered us to split up so that the Decepticons wouldn't find us," Raf continued. "Bee and I have been trying to get everyone back together to see if we can do something about the Decepticons, but we've only been able to find Ratchet and you guys so far."

 **"And finding you guys was a real surprise, believe me,"** Bumblebee added. **"Since you've been missing and all."**

"This isn't good," First Aid said in worry. "If the Decepticons have the upper hand now--"

"We'll make sure that they don't have it for long," Wildfire said, clenching her servos. "I've been itching to do something like this for a long time. Just give me a way to Nevada, and those morons won't know what hit them."

"Wildfire, have you gone insane?" Ratchet demanded, turning sharply to look at the red and orange femme. "That tower is a reproduction of Darkmount on Cybertron! You would not be able to survive--"

"I'm a gladiator by nature, Ratchet," Wildfire hissed in response. "Or have you forgotten that already? I fought in the same arenas that Megatron did before I joined the Autobots."

Raf's eyes widened when he heard that. "You _what_?"

"Wildfire will not be going in alone, Ratchet," Sparkseer spoke up. "I am not about to let her go in without proper back up."

"Or me," Jolt added.

Shape-Change wordlessly nodded in agreement, blue optics sparking with determination.

"You're not going in there without me," Maria said boldly, raising a fist. "I've climbed towers and fought giant monsters before."

Ratchet looked terrified, and he shook his helm at all of them. "You're impossible. Even if you wanted to do such a thing, how would you--"

"Joshua and I are working on transferring a Ground Bridge from a crashed Cybertronian ship to his personal lab," Jolt volunteered suddenly. "We found it some time ago and we've been tweaking it."

"A Ground Bridge?" Liz repeated. She looked over at Maria. "Didn't you say that was a kind of teleportation system of some kind?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah. I didn't think there was a crashed Cybertronian ship nearby, though. Joshua, when did you find it?"

"When I was building my lab. I can show you the exact location of it later."

"You two certainly haven't been idle," Wildfire noted dryly.

Ratchet was starting to look more and more haggard. "You are certain about this. You are willing to offline yourselves attacking the Decepticons in order to stop them."

"Ratchet, there are things that we have done that make attacking the Decepticons easier than it looks," Wildfire said seriously. "We can fill you in, but I don't want to stand around for longer than I have to."

If Ratchet was going to say anything in response, he was interrupted by a beeping noise that caused the entire group to stiffen in surprise.


	3. Chapter 3

"What is that?" Maria asked, turning in order to see if she could find the source of the beeping noise.

"We've got four Autobot signals inbound," Jolt spoke up, holding up a device. "Looks like they're flying in."

The Cybertronians relaxed slightly when they heard this; Maria let out a sigh of relief.

"Flying?" Khrista repeated. "Can Autobots fly?"

"Not normally, no," Shape-Change responded. "Not unless they're the Aerialbots."

"No...they're much too close together -- they would probably be scraping against each others' wings, and there's no way they'd stay that close." Jolt looked at the scanner in his servo more closely. "Could be an Autobot shuttle."

"Aerialbots?" Raf repeated.

"Cybertronians with designs very similar to the Seeker model," Ratchet explained. "I highly doubt that they are in the area, however. They opted to leave for other planets that were more likely to accept Cybertronian life."

As if to prove Ratchet's point, there came the sound of what seemed to be a jet engine somewhere above their heads. A shadow covered a part of the clearing a moment later, and a gigantic, blue ship that was clearly of alien design landed with a hiss of hydraulics.

"Wow," Maria stated, blinking a couple times. "That's a big ship."

"It would have to be, if it had to carry a Cybertronian," Wildfire commented.

"I recognize the design of the shuttle," Shape-Change said with a gasp of surprise. "Jolt, do you have any more processed Energon?"

"Yeah," Jolt responded. "Why?"

"It might be a good idea if you go and get more for the four in the shuttle."

"Sounds good to me. Anyone want to give me a hand?" Jolt looked around the clearing

"I will accompany you," Sparkseer spoke up.

The two shifted down to their vehicle modes and drove out of the clearing just as the shuttle opened up, extending a gangplank.

"Who do you think's inside?" Maria asked, looking over at her brother.

Matthew closed his left eye, a slight frown coming over his face. "...I think that we're going to see some familiar faces."

A collection of figures started to come out of the ship, a pair of humans stepping out first. As Maria recognized them with a jolt of shock and surprise, Raf dashed across the clearing.

"Jack! Miko!" Raf exclaimed, relief clear in his voice.

"Raf!" A lanky teenage boy with dark hair ran forward and enveloped the twelve-year-old in a hug; a girl with pink highlights in her hair followed quickly after him.

Maria exchanged knowing glances with Matthew and was about to open her mouth and say something, but then Shape-Change ended up cutting her off.

"Looks like the Wreckers are getting back together, huh?" Shape-Change commented as she walked across the clearing. "I was starting to wonder if I was the only one on the planet."

"Huh?" Maria blinked a couple times before looking over at the ship again. Her eyes widened a moment later when she saw three Cybertronians standing on the gangplank, looking at Shape-Change.

"SC!" A white, green and red mech looked at the femme in surprise. "Where have you been hiding?"

"Oh, around. Mostly with the human children in the area, but I've been able to keep myself busy." Shape-Change motioned to the group of humans standing near the other Autobots present.

"Whoa! Another girl Autobot?" The teenage girl turned and looked up at Shape-Change in awe. "Cool! Arcee's not alone anymore!"

"Technically, Miko, I was never 'alone'," came the response from a blue-armored femme. Compared to Shape-Change, Wildfire, and First Aid, however, her body's frame was much skinnier.

"Yeah, but you're not the only girl now," Miko pointed out. She looked up at Shape-Change eagerly. "So, who are you?"

"Shape-Change, a Wrecker and shifter," Shape-Change responded, seemingly amused.

"No way!"

The green, rounded mech that hadn't spoken yet gave a wide grin. "Shape-Change is the team's scout and knows just about as much about weapons as Wheeljack does. We called her Arsenal because of that."

"And we called _you_ Tank, Bulkhead," Morgen responded from where he stood behind Maria. "I don't remember what we called Wheeljack, though."

"I think my code name was--" the white, green and red mech stopped short, and he looked down at the humans in surprise. "Wait. _Morgen?_ What in the Pit are you doing here?"

"Language," First Aid murmured, frowning at Wheeljack. Her statement went unnoticed, however.

"You're on my home planet; what do you think I'm doing here?" Morgen responded with a grin. "The way we got back here, we only had to wait twelve years to have you guys show up again."

"And he's not the only one who's been waiting."

The group turned upon hearing Wildfire's voice, and a wide grin broke across Miko's face while Jack's jaw dropped.

"Whoa! Even _more_ girl Autobots!" Miko as clearly delighted.

"And humans." Maria gave a wave. "Hi, I'm Maria, one of Morgen's kids. Wildfire's my partner."

"Hey," the femme stated in greeting.

"I'm Matthew," Matthew spoke up. "Maria's older brother. Sparkseer is my partner, but he's gone to Jolt's underground lab to pick up some Energon for you guys."

"Underground lab?" Wheeljack repeated, sounding interested.

"We've been busy," Joshua admitted. "I'm Joshua -- Jolt's my partner."

"I'm Khrista," Khrista continued. "Joshua's my cousin, and SC is _my_ partner." A grin appeared on her face.

"I'm Liz, Matthew's other sister," Liz offered, waving. "First Aid's my partner."

Arcee jolted. "First Aid? But --"

"I was saved from an untimely death," the femme medic offered softly, smiling at the others' shock as they turned and looked in her direction.

"And we are _quite_ thankful for that," Ratchet responded in a relieved tone.

"And I'm Collin!" Collin burst out. "Coil's my friend!"

Wheeljack did a double-take. "Coil? Where?"

"Here." Coil poked his head out from behind First Aid, who was standing next to Ratchet. The little yellow mech's wings twitched nervously.

Wheeljack's optics widened. "That's the same sparkling you rescued from Shockwave's lab?" He looked over at SC, who nodded in return.

Maria blinked a couple times, then frowned, filing away her question about the "sparkling" and "Shockwave" for later.

"When he gets bigger, he's going to be a triple-changer," the shifter commented.

"A triple-changer?"

The others turned their heads, and Maria's eyes widened as she watched a large, mostly-blue mech with towers on his shoulders walking out of the ship.

"That is good news," the mech continued in a stiff manner.

"He can't fight yet, Ultra Magnus," Wildfire stated, moving in front of Coil defensively. "He's not big enough."

"He has the mentality of a human child," Sparkseer continued. "Placing that on a battlefield would not be good for either side."

"I wanna fight," Coil spoke up.

"When you're bigger," First Aid said, putting a servo on Coil's left shoulder.

"If you are going to address me, you are to refer to me as 'Sir'," the blue mech -- Ultra Magnus -- said. "Shape-Change. What is the meaning of your prolonged absence?"

Shape-Change turned and looked at the mech, stiffening slightly. "Sir, Vector Prime decided to shift me through time and space into the mind of a human teenager, a realm that I was only recently released from."

Ultra Magnus frowned disapprovingly. "This had better not be a joke, shifter."

"It's not," Khrista responded. When Ultra Magnus turned his stern gaze on her, she scowled and reluctantly added, "...sir. There are are lot of things that have happened to us that could be considered impossible by normal standards."

"What is your designation?" Ultra Magnus asked, frowning at Khrista.

Khrista frowned at that. "My what?"

"He means your name," Shape-Change explained.

"Oh. I'm Khrista. Shape-Change is my partner."

"Partner?" Miko looked at Khrista in surprise. "Does that mean you're a Wrecker, too?"

"Can't say that I've ever been given the title," Khrista responded. She gave Miko a curious look. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm a Wrecker!" Miko jabbed a thumb at her chest proudly. "I took out an Insecticon on my own!"

"A what?" Matthew repeated in confusion.

"Bug Cybertronians," Wildfire explained with an expression of disgust. "I fought them a few times in the gladiator rings."

"Huh." Khrista gained an interested expression. "I'll have to see what I'm able to do against a Cybertronian myself."

"I doubt that you'd be able to do anything, kid," Wheeljack commented. "Humans could become squished by anything our size."

Khrista looked amused. "I can handle myself just fine. I'm not referred to as the 'PokeHuman Legendary' for nothing."

"The what?" Jack repeated.

"How about we get introductions out of the way before we start to get into our nicknames?" Liz jumped in. "I'm Liz, and that's my older brother and sister, Matthew and Maria, my younger brother, Collin, and our parents Morgen and Kate over there. Khrista and her cousin, Joshua, live just down the street from us."

"Uh, hi." Jack looked around at the human group, nodding to the others in greeting before looking back at Khrista. "So, what did you mean by 'PokeHuman'? That sounds like something I heard from a video game or something."

"It kind of is," Khrista responded. "Something happened last year, and..." The brunette paused, then said, "Let's just say that inter-dimensional travel exists."

Jack looked dubious, but Miko became amazed.

"Inter-dimensional travel?" Miko repeated. "Like, real-deal going to other dimensions?"

Wheeljack snorted. "Yeah, right. Like that's true."

Maria gave a knowing hum, an equally knowing smirk coming across her face. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that...."

Wheeljack gave Maria a strange look, then frowned. Before he could say anything in response to Maria's statement, however, two familiar vehicles rolled into the clearing before transforming into Sparkseer and Jolt, each carrying two Energon cubes.

"Who's hungry?" Jolt asked with something of a sheepish smile.

"Energon?" Arcee asked in surprise. "Where did you--"

"I have a lab connected to a mine of Energon," Jolt explained. He held out a cube to the blue femme, and she took it from his servos before Jolt handed the other one to Wheeljack.

"It is quite useful when we are in need of refueling," Sparkseer added. He gave his cubes to Ultra Magnus and Bulkhead. "Jolt and Joshua are working on many gadgets, but I have yet to see something that I might have an interest in using."

"Really?" Wheeljack gave Jolt an interested look. "So you've been working on building things, huh?"

"It's been Joshua's work, mostly," Jolt admitted. "We haven't built anything that would be considered lethal yet, but Joshua has been experimenting with possible energy sources."

"Which can be turned into weapons," Joshua conceded. "I doubt I'm ready to go into that field, however, mainly because I have yet to experiment with that portion of my systems enough."

"Systems?" Arcee repeated. "What are you--"

There came a bright flash from Joshua's form, replacing his blue and green clothes with blue and green armor. Jack, Miko, and Raf looked at him with wide eyes of alarm while the Cybertronians stiffened.

"I was wondering why you kept coming up as a Spark," Wheeljack commented, pointing a digit at Joshua. "Are you a Mini-Con disguised as a human?"

"Actually, I'm a human that was transformed into a robotic being known as a Reploid," Joshua corrected.

"Reploid?" Miko repeated. "Why does that sound so familiar...?"

"As interesting as this is, we have far more pressing matters at hand," Ultra Magnus said, holding an empty cube. "Mainly that of the Decepticons and their citadel."

Wildfire snorted. "Yeah. We were thinking of going after them ourselves. Jolt and Joshua apparently managed to find a crashed Cybertronian ship with a Ground Bridge in it."

"Really?" Bulkhead looked over at Jolt, who nodded.

"Apparently, it used to be a Decepticon shuttle known as the _Harbinger,"_ Jolt explained. "The flight systems are damaged beyond repair, but the Ground Bridge system is in working order."

"We could use that to head right back over to Nevada and knock out that Darkmount wannabe!" Wheeljack said, grinning.

"We certainly can use it to our advantage," Ultra Magnus commented. He turned and looked at Jolt. "Where is this Decepticon shuttle?"

"This way, sir," Jolt responded. He started towards a grove of trees and started to push the trees aside. "I would have suggested taking the road, but I suspect that you might not have an Earthen vehicle mode yet."

"You would be correct," Ultra Magnus replied. He strode after Jolt. "Will it be safe to leave my spacecraft here?"

"No one has entered this area of our local forest," Sparkseer replied, following after Ultra Magnus. "It is highly likely that we will not be disturbed here."

"Who put shoulderpads in charge?" Wildfire groused as she and the other Cybertronians followed after Jolt.

"He kinda acts like a drill sergeant or something like that," Maria agreed as she started after the femme. The rest of the humans in the group followed after her, with the other Cybertronians following.

"Ultra Magnus is currently the highest ranking officer here," Ratchet responded matter-of-factly. "It only makes sense that he would be the one to lead us at this point in time."

_ ::I think you would have liked to know him when the war started:: _ Shape-Change commented over the comm-link to Joshua and Maria. _::He was a little more free with his emotions then. I remember he used to let out a war cry every single time he went into battle, waving that hammer of his. That's why Morgen and Katie called him "Thor"::_

Maria hummed in response to this, ears perking with interest. _::I wonder how he got so serious, then::_

_ ::Being out on the battlefield can do that to you:: _ Wildfire responded.

The group of Cybertronians and humans trekked through the forests, some of them exchanging glances when Jolt took a turn and occasionally caused a tree to topple.

"So, you guys have been with these guys for how long?" Miko asked, looking over at Liz.

"Twelve years," Liz replied. "Maria, Matt, Mom, and Dad know them better than better than the rest of us, though."

"Really?" Miko had an interested expression on her face before a frown came over her face. "What's up with all of you, anyway? Khrista said she wasn't a Wrecker when Shape-Change is one."

Liz shrugged. "They've been running around and doing different things, so I don't think that they've really had the time to make Khrista a Wrecker or anything like that. What is a Wrecker, anyway?"

"Wreckers are strong warriors that are the best on the battlefield!" Miko declared, grinning. "Wreckers don't call for back-up -- they call for clean-up!"

Khrista, who happened to be walking in front of them, glanced back and let out a burst of laughter. "Where'd you hear that one?"

"Bulkhead and Wheeljack say it all the time." Miko grinned.

"Really?" Khrista gained an interested expression. "Huh. Sounds cool."

It didn't take too long before the group of Cybertronians and humans arrived in a large clearing in the forest. Taking up one half of the area was a large mound of rock that almost looked like a small mountain -- especially with the large purple and black spaceship that was partially buried in the rock.

"That's it," Jolt said, motioning up to the mountain as he came to a stop. "The _Harbinger._ We've moved a good number of the parts out for my and Joshua's lab, but the Ground Bridge and one of the generators is still intact. There should be enough power for the Ground Bridge to work."

Ultra Magnus gave a slight nod in response, looking around the clearing in order to assess the area. "And it seems that there is enough room here for my ship. I shall endeavor to move it when we have devised a plan of attack against Darkmount." He turned to look at the rest of the group present.

The mech probably would have started to speak again -- most likely with a plan of his own -- if a loud beeping noise hadn't interrupted him.

Joshua calmly reached behind him and pulled out what looked like an upgraded version of a walkie-talkie. "Ah. I was wondering when that was going to happen."

Maria moved over to her neighbor; Raf followed, curious. "What is it?"

"It looks like I've managed to pick up the signal of someone who is in Nevada, somewhere near where Jasper used to be." Joshua raised the walkie talkie to his ear. "Greetings. This is Joshua Langstrom." He blinked a couple times when he undoubtedly heard the voice that was at the other end. "I am an ally of a group of Cybertronians in my area -- you don't need to sound so alarmed at the prospect of me suddenly getting your number, Agent William Fowler."

Maria, Matthew, Jack, Miko, and Raf all stiffened in surprise; the Jasper trio all looked at the two older Carlsdales with curious expressions when they saw their reactions.

Morgen came over. "Agent William Fowler? Sounds like a government guy."

Jack nodded, gaining a cautious expression, but he said nothing.

"All right." Morgen folded his arms across his chest, donning a serious expression.

"Sir, we are allies to the Autobots," Joshua continued. He was starting to look somewhat strained. "Did you really think that your group in Nevada was the only one here? I'm going to send our coordinates to you now so that you can reach us -- we need to come up with a plan in order to take down Darkmount."

Something that the man said on the other end caused Joshua's face to shift, and Morgen took a step towards the Reploid.

"Hand it over," Morgen said, motioning for the device in Joshua's hand. "Let me talk to this agent guy."

Joshua looked over at Morgen with an expression that clearly said that he wasn't sure whether or not he should do so, then gave a slight, hesitant nod and handed over his walkie-talkie-like device.

"Before you say a single word, let me introduce myself," Morgen said abruptly. "I'm Morgen Carlsdale, and four of my kids happen to be friends with four Autobots, and they have two friends in the area who have friends with Autobots. And don't worry about your group -- they're here -- shoot, _your kids_ are here....Look, I'll explain everything when you get here, all right? You _should_ know where we are because of what Joshua did.... You do? Good. See you in a couple hours, then!"

And with that abrupt statement, Morgen handed the device back to Jordan, who promptly hid it away again.

Maria frowned at her neighbor when she saw his hand appear again without the device in it. "Okay, how are you doing that?"

Joshua looked over at her curiously for a moment before realizing what it was that she was referring to. "You don't know anything about subspace pockets?" When he saw the blank look that Maria had on her face, he gained something of a mildly annoyed expression. "Well, Jolt, Wildfire, or I will have to teach you that later. For now, we have something else that we need to take care of." He looked up at Jolt. "Come on. Let's go make sure that the generator will be able to handle the Ground Bridge activating so that we can use it to take care of that citadel."

"Sounds good to me," Jolt replied. He started towards the _Harbinger,_ followed closely by the blue Reploid.

"So, Fowler's coming?" Jack asked, blinking. "I hope he knows how my mom's doing...."

"Was she forced to scatter with you guys?" Maria asked, turning to look at the lanky teenager.

Jack shook his head. "She was working at the hospital. My mom's a nurse."

"Well, they said that Jasper was evacuated," Liz said helpfully. "He probably knows where your mom is, right?"

"Does she know about you guys?" Collin asked, looking up at the Cybertronians.

"Yeah, she does," Bulkhead responded.

"Jack didn't tell her, though," Arcee responded, gaining a hard look. "A group of humans kidnapped her and used her in order to get to me and Jack."

"Humans?" Khrista frowned.

"MECH," Raf said in a sour tone. "They seem to think that the Cybertronians are just robots that they can tear to pieces. They took Bee's T-cog out in order to make their own robot!"

** "That sucked," ** Bumblebee growled darkly. **"Those guys are idiots."**

"Guess we'll have to be careful about them," Maria commented, exchanging sidelong looks with Joshua.

"I don't think so," Miko said, waving off their concern. "Last we heard, their group was disbanded when their leader tried -- and failed -- to join the Decepticons. We haven't heard anything about Silas since that whole incident with the satellite."

The Carlsdales exchanged glances when they heard this.

_ ::I wonder what it is that we missed:: _ Maria commented to Wildfire.

_ ::...I think we'll learn soon enough:: _ came the reply.


	4. Chapter 4

It took a couple hours before Maria picked up the faint sound of a plane engine nearby.

The teenager looked up, then stood up and moved off the ramp that led into Ultra Magnus' shuttle -- the Autobot and brought it over before disappearing inside the _Harbinger_ with Jolt and Ratchet. Joshua had snuck in after them.

The rest of the Cybertronians were scattered around the clearing or investigating the area to make sure that there weren't any Decepticons tailing them.

"What is it?" Jack asked, noticing Maria moving.

"Something's coming...." Maria frowned before turning her blue eyes to her brother, who was leaning against a tree. "Matt, can you sense anything?"

"Hmm?" Matthew looked away from Raf, cutting off their conversation about Cybertronian teammates. When he registered the question, he closed one eye and looked upward. After a moment, his face shifted from slight recognition. "Yeah. There are two humans flying this way. And no sign of Starscream."

"Huh?" Miko looked over in their direction in surprise.

"Starscream?" Liz, who was standing near Miko, blinked a couple times before frowning at her older siblings.

"Who's coming?" Collin asked from where he was standing next to Coil. The two of them had taken to standing at the near the entrance to the _Harbinger,_ with Khrista.

"What do you mean, 'no sign of Starscream'?" Arcee looked over at the human with a suspicious frown. "And how do you know that name, anyway?"

Maria couldn't help but notice that the femme had been slightly suspicious of them ever since Wildfire had driven off to take Morgen and Kate back to the house to get some dinner for the human kids. She couldn't help but wonder if Arcee and the others could sense that there was something different about Maria, her siblings, and her friends.

"I've got a bit of an ability like Sparkseer's," Matthew explained, opening his eye and looking over at Miko and Arcee. "I can sense other people's auras -- or Sparks."

Miko's eyes widened in shock. "You mean like that Pokemon-thing? Rukario, right?"

Maria blinked in surprise when she heard the Japanese name for the Jackal Pokemon. She hadn't really thought to ask if Miko was even into Pokemon.

"Yeah," Matthew confirmed.

"You still haven't answered my question," Arcee stated warningly.

"It's a bit of a long story," Maria responded, rubbing the back of her head with an embarrassed expression. "And I should probably explain it when everyone's gotten back together."

"We won't end up getting any strange looks more than once that way," Matthew added knowingly, nodding.

"It's strange enough knowing that you have Sparkseer's ability," Arcee responded.

Matthew shrugged. "Trust me, the story behind how I figured out the ability is even crazier. Not to mention my siblings' abilities."

"You mean like how Maria can create fireballs?" Raf spoke up.

"Wait -- you can do _what?!"_ Jack looked at Maria in surprise while she laughed at his reaction.

"It's not really all that big of a deal," Maria commented. "That fireball I made earlier was done with only a small fraction of my power. I can do a lot more than that if I wanted to."

Miko looked like she want to ask something, but the sudden, loud blast of noise from above them caused her to stop short.

Maria looked up and watched as what looked like a jet fighter plane of some kind circled around the clearing for a moment before coming down for a landing on the grass. After the aircraft had managed to come to a stop, the cockpit popped open, allowing two figures to climb out.

Jack, Miko, and Raf instantly ran towards the two figures and caught one of them -- a woman with black hair and a relieved expression on her face -- in a massive group hug.

This left the African American man who had come with her looking a little left out, but then he caught sight of the unfamiliar figures standing in the clearing.

"Who are you supposed to be?" the man asked, stomping over and pointing at Maria and Matthew.

"I'm Maria Carlsdale, and this is my brother, Matthew," Maria said, motioning to her older brother. "If you were looking forward to having a talk with our dad, you just missed him and Mom -- they should be coming back soon with dinner, though."

"We might be able to answer any questions you might have about us, though," Matthew added. "Within reason, of course."

The man eyed the two of them suspiciously, then noticed some of the large figures who were scattered around the clearing. "Who are they?"

"Friends," Maria chirped happily in reply. "That's Sparkseer, Shape-Change, First Aid, and Coil over there. Jolt is in there with Joshua -- one of my neighbors -- and Ratchet." She motioned to the _Harbinger._ "And the shuttle over there is Ultra Magnus'. He got here some time ago from Cybertron." Her face shifted a little as she spoke, gaining something of an annoyed expression.

"He didn't exactly hit it off too well with my sister," Matthew explained when Fowler frowned at Maria. "According to what we've heard, he's the leader of the Wreckers and is about as stiff as I've ever seen a military man."

Fowler inclined his head slightly when he heard that. "Considering what I know about Wheeljack and Bulkhead, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they would need someone like _that_ to keep them in line."

Maria snorted at that.

"How did you kids come into contact with--"

The sound of a revving engine cut Fowler off as Wildfire drove into the clearing. She stopped next to the fighter plane and revved her engine suspiciously. Moments later, Frieda stepped out of the driver's seat and walked over to Fowler. The woman, who was surrounded by Jack, Miko, and Raf, looked up when she noticed the red-haired young woman eyeing them suspiciously.

"You two were the ones who were with Bumblebee and Ratchet?" Frieda asked, frowning.

Fowler eyed Frieda suspiciously. "Yes. And you are?"

Frieda gave a smirk, then dissipated in a shower of sparks as the back seat doors opened, letting out Morgen and Kate -- both carrying coolers and a number of plastic containers.

"What in the name of--"

"Save whatever swears you may have for the Cons, Agent Fowler," Wildfire said as she transformed to her bipedal form. "My name is Wildfire. I am Maria's guardian."

"Guardian?" Fowler repeated.

"For twelve years," Maria added.

"I'm June Darby," the woman who had come with Fowler spoke up.

"Jack's mother?" Morgen moved over. "I'm Morgen Carlsdale -- the one who talked to Fowler on the phone a couple hours ago. If you're looking for Joshua, he's in that ship thing over there." He nodded in the direction of the _Harbinger._

"They are coming out presently," Sparkseer spoke up from where he had been sitting, inspecting his golden spear. "I believe Joshua and Jolt may have noticed your arrival."

"It is hard to ignore the sound of a jet." Jolt appeared at the entrance of the _Harbinger_ , followed shortly by Joshua, Ratchet, and Ultra Magnus, who had to practically bend over double in order to leave the crashed ship. "Hi, I'm Jolt. Agent Fowler, right?"

Fowler nodded, then walked over as the mechs and looked him over as Joshua moved to stand in front of his guardian. "How many of you have been hiding right under our noses?"

"There's six Cybertronians, two Reploids, two adults, and various human teenagers with unusual abilities," Joshua said matter-of-factly.

"Reploids?" Nurse Darby repeated.

Maria, on the other hand, had something different to say. "Joshua! I wanted to have that as a surprise for later!"

"Hah!" Khrista shot back. "You _already_ surprised them! Throwing a fireball around in front of Raf and Ratchet?"

"And you walked through Ratchet's foot!" Matthew called playfully.

"Walked through Ratchet's foot?" Nurse Darby repeated in surprise.

"How in the world did --" Understanding crossed Fowler's face. "You're that girl I heard about -- the one who had a video game made after her, aren't you? Khristine Langstrom?"

"It's Khrista," Khrista corrected. Her shirt flashed a bright gold, and she suddenly teleported over in front of Fowler -- much to his and the others' surprise. Maria simply rolled her eyes while Matthew chuckled at the dropped jaws and wide eyes. "Only Mom and Dad call me Khristine, and _that's_ only when I'm in trouble."

"Cool!" Miko exclaimed. "Can you do all that other Pokemon stuff, too? Like the attacks?"

"When I want." Khrista gave a lazy shrug, her shirt shifting back to the dull red. "And the same goes for little miss Flare-Up over there, but she only uses Fire-Type ones." She looked pointedly at Maria, who gave a smile and nodded in agreement.

"What did he mean by 'Reploid'?" Nurse Darby finally asked, moving forward. "That doesn't sound like something that's human."

Maria let out a sigh. "It's not." She made a motion with one hand, and her clothes blurred before they abruptly transformed into a strange set of armor that looked exactly like Joshua's -- except that hers was red, orange, and gray. "A Reploid is something that looks and acts like a human, but is actually an android. They're from the MegaMan X video game series, if you ever think of looking them up later."

Maria glanced over at Miko, Jack, and Raf, noticing that all three of them were looking at her with wide eyes -- turning into shock and recognition. "I had a bit of an accident a while back, so I was forced to transfer into this form in order to keep living. Joshua over there still _has_ his original body -- it just got transformed into a Reploid one recently."

"Awesome!" Miko declared.

"How?" Nurse Darby looked shocked. "What could have happened to cause--"

"That's a long story that can wait," Wildfire spoke up. "We've got some Cons to take out so that we won't have that particular threat hanging over our helms." She looked over at Ultra Magnus, who had been eyeing the proceedings with an expression of annoyance -- most likely because he was being ignored. "Ultra Magnus, Agent Fowler has connections with this planet's government. It would be wise if any plans we are about to discuss were talked about in his presence."

Fowler eyed Wildfire with a strange expression, then gave a nod in agreement. "I've got the Sky Strikers ready to go ahead and scramble for an attack on that tower Megatron's got in Nevada, but we won't be able to do anything with those lasers he's got pointed at Washington."

"Lasers?" Maria repeated sharply.

"He used them to destroy Jasper," Raf piped up.

"Primus above and below...."

"Watch your language," Ratchet said sharply, frowning disapprovingly at Maria. "Wildfire, it seems that she's managed to pick up your habit of swearing."

"Not my fault," Wildfire huffed in reply. "I doubt she could hear what I said half the time." She looked over at Shape-Change, who appeared to be amused. "Do you have any idea what it is that we're going to be up against? It sounds like we have another version of Darkmount on our servos."

The mostly-gray shifter's expression became a more serious expression. "Even if it is another version of Darkmount, we won't be able to guarantee that the layout is exactly the same. What I can remember of scouting out enemy territory may be absolutely useless."

"Then we will have to improvise." Ultra Magnus definitely sounded annoyed with the fact that he was being ignored. "According to what Ratchet and Jolt have already informed me of, the Ground Bridge we have available to us will only let us get near Darkmount, rather than inside it, which is where we will need to be in order to nullify its fusion cannons."

"Then we'll just have to sneak past enemy lines." Wheeljack grinned wickedly. "Wrecker Style."

"I could not deal with 'Wrecker Style' back on Cybertron, and I _refuse_ to deal with it here," Ultra Magnus responded in an almost barking-like tone. "After all, as Megatron no doubt has more forces and firepower at his command than we do at present, we will require that his forces are to be spread thin if we have any hope of completing this mission...or of surviving it."

"Wrecker Style is probably how we do things around here," Khrista commented to Maria. The Reploid smirked at the statement and gave a thumbs-up in agreement.

"Spread them thin...." Morgen gained a thoughtful expression as he put down the cooler he had been carrying. His wife did the same and looked over at him with something of a sly expression.

"Don't tell me that you're planning on pulling one of those tricks like you did the last time we had to go against the odds," Kate remarked.

"Oh, something like that, but one of the less flashy ideas," Morgen responded off-handedly.

"What are you talking about?" Raf asked, looking at the Carlsdale parents curiously.

Morgen waved off the curious stares. "It's just something that my wife and I have had to do on and off in the past. I'll fill you in on the details from _that_ particular adventure later, but the point is, we have an idea that might be able to work against these guys to thin out their numbers."

"You do?" Maria looked at her parents in surprise.

"Perhaps it would be wise if you informed us of what exactly your idea _is,_ " Ultra Magnus stated pointedly. "I would like to know whether or not it would be wise to trust a native."

"Well, _Thor,_ the idea's pretty simple." Morgen's grin widened when he saw the wide optics he was getting from the leader of the Wreckers. "We've got one of the Cons ships, right? If we can access their communication system, then we'll be able to make them send their men out to dummy locations across the States. Before they can figure out what it is that's going on, we'll be on the attack already."

Maria paused to consider that idea for a moment. "Sounds like a decent idea...but would it work? I mean, Buckethead has Slenderman still, right?"

"Slenderman?" Jack repeated.

"Soundwave," Sparkseer supplied. "The Carlsdales have provided code names -- some might even go as far to say "nicknames" for each of the Autobots and Decepticons which they have heard of. One might say that 'Buckethead' originated from Matthew and Maria."

"What?" Matthew shrugged helplessly. "His helmet looked a lot like a bucket. What else was a six-year-old supposed to call him?"

Fowler looked like he was about to blow a gasket. "How in the name of --"

" _Later_ ," Maria interrupted.

"I must admit, the idea which you have presented has some merits." Ultra Magnus commented. "We can utilize the Ground Bridge to spread the Decepticon forces as thinly as possible."

"And, considering that we have access to their frequencies through the _Harbinger,_ we can use that to send the Decepticons to other locations under the premise of an Autobot attack," Jolt jumped in. When he saw the look Ultra Magnus sent in his direction, the mech ducked his head and added, "Sir."

Ultra Magnus paused for a moment, then gave a slight nod. "Perhaps we will utilize that, as well. Afterwards, we can turn our attention to attacking Darkmount."

Maria and Wildfire exchanged grins at that.

"That's definitely something that I'm looking forward to," Maria commented, slamming a fist and an open palm together in front of her.

"Oh no you don't," Arcee spoke up abruptly. "There's no way that you would be able to withstand an attack from one of the Decepticons, let alone a Vehicon."

"Coil and the humans are going to stay here," Ratchet agreed, "As well as First Aid and myself, as we are hardly fit for any sort of combat situation on this scale."

First Aid nodded in agreement. "Besides, we're going to need to be able to take care of any injuries you might get -- and if we don't have any, then we won't have to worry about bleeding out while taking care of you."

Matthew glanced over at Maria and Wildfire and smirked when he saw the looks on their faces. "Ratchet, I don't think that even Megatron himself would be able to hold those two back."

Maria snorted. "You got that right. I'm not planning on staying off the battlefield if Wildfire's going."

"And I am," Wildfire confirmed.

"I am planning on going, but you do not see me attempting to convince Ratchet to let Matthew come with me," Sparkseer said pointedly, frowning. 

"He's not covered in armor and could go off like a volcano at any time," Liz spoke up. "Course, neither am I or Collin."

Maria gained a wide grin at that.

"Go off like a volcano?" Bulkhead repeated.

Maria snickered. "Like Raf said earlier, I can throw fireballs around. What does that mean if I get mad enough?"

Bulkhead's optics widened at that while Miko gained an eager expression.

"Cool!" Miko exclaimed.

Wheeljack gained a wide grin. "You know what, I think I like this kid. She's got definite Wrecker material."

Ultra Magnus didn't look happy at the prospect. "As much as we would appreciate the assistance you might be able to offer, I highly doubt that you would be able to hold your ground against a Cybertronian."

Maria snorted. "Are you so sure? Agent Fowler, if you'll recall the video game that was made after Khrista's own adventure, you should know that she's been in some pretty interesting situations. And I've been in battles similar to those before."

Everyone in the group looked at the government agent, who had a suspicious frown on his face.

"That may be, but she hasn't--"

"Dialga is part Steel and just about as tough and powerful as an average Cybertronian," Shape-Change spoke up. "And not only has Khrista stood up to him, but Maria has as well."

"What?!" Miko looked at Maria with wide eyes. "Since when?"

"Ever heard of the game _Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky?"_ Maria responded. She grinned. "I've been on a couple more adventures than Khrista has, and I _know_ that I'll be able to hold my own against those Vehicon things."

Ultra Magnus opened his mouth to protest, but Wildfire beat him to it.

"She's a World Jumper; of course she knows she can handle it," the red and orange femme stated.

The statement got mixed reactions: confusion from Jack, Miko, Raf, and Nurse Darby, a frown from Agent Fowler, smirks from those who knew Maria, and surprise from the Autobots who didn't.

"World Jumper?" Ratchet repeated. "Impossible. They don't--"

"How did my parents, Matt, and I end up on Cybertron, then?" Maria pressed. "How is it that Wildfire's back in action? Trust me, Ratchet, this stuff doesn't normally happen."

"Don't you think I know that?" Ratchet snapped in reply.

"Hold the phone!" Fowler yelled. "What do you mean, ended up on Cybertron?!"

Joshua let out a sigh. "Twelve years ago, according to what Mr. and Mrs. Carlsdale have told us, they, Matthew, and Maria were all transported to Cybertron in the early stages of the war. The codenames of the Autobots and Decepticons had to have come from somewhere."

"And _how_ did you manage to get there?" Fowler asked, frowning.

"In one of the most cliche ways possible," Morgen responded dryly. "We were sucked through a TV. Next thing we know, we're sitting on the desk of one of Optimus' closest friends."

Fowler looked at Morgen like he was insane. "You're serious."

"Yup. Wasn't the first time that it happened to me and my wife, either."

"You still haven't told me about all your adventures yet, either," Maria commented, pointing at her parents. "You owe me because I've been telling you guys what I've done so far."

"Later, Maria," Kate said seriously. "We should probably eat first and figure out how to follow through with that plan."

There came a round of growls, and a number of heads looked down at their stomachs.

The noise got a loud laugh from Morgen as he opened up the coolers. "All right, you guys. Eat up! Can't take down Darkmount on an empty stomach, you know!"


	5. The Witching Hour...at 3 in the morning

Maria's eyes snapped open as Matt grabbed his iPhone and turned off the alarm, grumbling incoherently. His sister smirked in response before getting up off the floor of the living room, being careful not to nudge anyone too hard with her metal feet.

"Who's bright idea was it again to _not_ sleep in our own beds?" Matthew grumbled as he sat up on the couch. "Because I'd really like to be sleeping in there right now."

"Mrs. Darby had to sleep somewhere," Maria commented in reply, shrugging. "I'm glad that I changed the sheets yesterday."

"Well, that explains _you,_ but what about _me?_ "

"Don't blame me -- you were pretty much knocked out by the time that we all went to sleep." Maria grinned, amused.

Another phone's alarm suddenly went off, and a hand shot out from under a pile of blankets to grab a vibrating flip phone. A spiky-haired head followed as another hand started to search for a pair of glasses.

Raf let out a loud yawn and rubbed at his eyes before putting on his glasses. "It's time, I guess?"

"Yup. Three in the morning, like we said." Maria gave a nod, then started to move over Jack. "I'm going to warm something up so that we can last until breakfast. Mom and Dad are probably going to be--"

Maria was cut off by a loud explosion of noise that caused her to jump in surprise and scramble back as Jack shot up into the air.

"What is that?!" Matthew clamped his hands over his ears in an attempt to keep the screaming voice and shrieking guitar. "It sounds like a rock band on its death bed!"

"It's Slash Monkey!" Miko called back, popping up from her pile of blankets. She raised her pink flip phone in the air and started jumping around to some unheard beat before Jack grabbed her phone and turned off the alarm.

"Okay, from now on, you are _not_ to play that in this house," Morgen growled as he came down the stairs, rubbing his head. "It works as a wake-up call, but I don't want my neighbors to come after us with pitchforks and torches."

Maria gave her father a strange look. Morgen ignored it as he walked into the kitchen.

Miko scowled unhappily at Morgen's declaration, then muttered something that sounded like Japanese. Matthew smirked at the look on her face as he moved past her and into the kitchen, Maria on his heels.

"We shouldn't take too long," Maria warned her brother and father as Morgen opened the fridge.

"I know," Morgen replied. He held up a small bag of about six apples and tossed them at Maria without looking up before pulling out a large bag of grapes. "This should be enough for now."

"I guess so." Maria pulled out one of the apples and inspected it for a moment before moving to rub it against her armored chest before pausing. "Oh, right. Sheesh, I keep forgetting that I'm wearing armor and not regular clothes like everyone else." She looked at the apple and shrugged before taking a bite. "You'd think I'd be used to it by now."

Miko and the others soon appeared in the kitchen, looking half awake, but not like they were completely there. Maria tossed the bag of apples at Jack, who managed to catch it before any fell out.

"We're going to need to eat fast in order to get the plan in motion," Morgen commented.

"We'll make sure that we'll have some snacks handy in case anyone gets hungry," Kate added as she entered the room with Mrs. Darby and Liz behind her. Maria's mother was dressed in jeans and a simple T-shirt as though she was ready to get down and dirty. "Maria, Wildfire's waiting outside in the driveway. I think she wanted to talk to you before we got going."

"Really?" Maria blinked at that. "Well, all right, then. I'll meet you guys out there in what, five minutes?" The Reploid was nearly out of the kitchen when she got the nods from her parents, and she was out the door soon after.

Maria stepped off the front porch and into the midnight air, feeling a bit chilled for a moment before her body compensated for the cool night air and warmed up a little.

"Mom said you wanted to talk to me?" Maria asked the Cybertronian sitting in the driveway.

Wildfire shifted a little on her axles at the sound of the Reploid's voice, and the hologram "Frieda" appeared, sitting on the hood. "Yeah. We're going to need a better plan for you besides the whole 'dashing through the Ground Bridge' bit. I know that worked when you entered the _Nemesis,_ but I'm going to warn you now that Ratchet and Ultra Magnus both have hawk eyes when it comes to this kind of thing. _Especially_ Ratchet. I'm not about to count the number of times that Coil tried to sneak out from under his nose when Ratchet was giving him a checkup."

"Coil didn't have the Light Refractor," Maria pointed out.

"But Ratchet _does_ have a machine that reads Spark signatures." The holoform pointed at Maria. "Which your core counts as. Because you don't know how to shield it, he's already made a note of it."

"Shield it?"

"Keep it hidden from Cybertronian sensors."

Maria's eyes widened at that. "But doesn't that mean--"

"Because your Spark is so small compared to ours, it's not going to show up unless the Cons know what to look for. Otherwise, they probably think you're some kind of glitch or something." Wildfire waved off Maria's concern. "The only reason I'm mentioning that is because Ratchet mentioned it to me before I came over to pick you guys up. You and Joshua are both on his radar now and registers as civilians -- not Autobots."

"Like that's going to bother Joshua any," Maria grumbled. "He's not planning on getting involved."

"Not like you are, no. He and Jolt are making sure that the Ground Bridge is still going to be running properly by the time that we get moving." The holoform folded its arms across its chest. "You still haven't explained to me how you're planning on sneaking out with me so that you can help us out."

"Well, I don't hear you suggesting any ideas."

"You're really planning on sneaking out?" Miko asked as she and the others came out of the house. "Can I--"

"No." Wildfire's holoform and Maria both turned and frowned at Miko.

"You're not equipped for this kind of thing," Maria added, motioning to her armor. "If I was still human, I doubt that Wildfire would be talking to me about how to avoid Ratchet."

"I would _consider_ it, but then I'd say no," Wildfire agreed. "You may be a Pokemon Champion, but without the team to back you up, you're just as vulnerable as every other human on this planet." She pointed an accusing finger at Maria.

"I don't need my team to back me up so much anymore, but I can see what you're getting at." Maria glanced back at the Autobot, then looked over at the others. "Ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be," Jack replied, looking a little nervous.

"It's going to be a little tight," Wildfire warned. "Matt, you ride with Maria. I'm not about to have it anymore squished in there than it's going to get."

"Ride with Maria?" Raf repeated, confused.

Maria winked, then jabbed a thumb at her back while a battery pack-like device detached and unfolded itself. Jumping on, she explained, "I got this as a gift not too long ago."

Miko's jaw dropped. "A hoverboard?! No way! You have _got_ to let me ride that!"

"Later," Maria replied. She remained in place while her elder brother climbed on, then gave a wave and took off down the street, calling, "I'll meet you guys there!" She quickly turned her attention to the road and poured on the speed.

"This is a little faster than what you were going last time," Matthew remarked, gripping Maria's shoulders.

"Time is of the essence now." Maria glanced back at Matthew for a moment. "We can't afford to take our time like we did back in that other Jasper."

Matthew gave a slight nod out of agreement. "Right."

It didn't take Maria too long to arrive in the clearing where the Autobots had camped out. It was mostly empty except for three figures: Shape-Change, Khrista, and Coil.

"Collin and Mom are staying at home," Maria reported as she and Matthew landed. As soon as the two were off the hoverboard, it folded up and reattached itself to Maria's back. "The others should be here any minute now with Wildfire."

Coil frowned, then yawned loudly. "Collin isn't here? Why?"

"He's probably asleep," Khrista replied. She gave the little yellow triple-changer a pointed frown. "Like you should be."

"But Khrista, I'm--"

"Don't give us the 'I'm not sleepy' line," Shape-Change spoke up then. "You're about to collapse. Come on; let's find you a place to sleep near here."

"And don't sleep in your alt mode." First Aid exited the _Harbinger,_ followed by Jolt. "It's going to make it very hard for you to move when you wake up."

Coil yawned again, but didn't protest as Shape-Change led him out of the clearing.

Khrista walked over to Maria. "Shape-Change and I talked it over; I'd probably get in the way more than I'd like because I haven't had experience fighting these guys. I wouldn't want to get squashed before meeting the leader of the Autobots; Mom and Dad would make sure to ground me for an eternity." Despite the fact that the words were joking, the teen's tone was serious. "You're still planning on following through?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah. I'm not about to let Buckethead try anything more than he already has. Besides, this is my home, and if a World Jumper can't protect her own home, what's that going to say about me?"

"Maybe that you trust the inhabitants to take care of their own problems?" Ratchet demanded as he came out of the _Harbinger._

Maria frowned and was about to utter a retort when Wildfire stepped in.

"This isn't your home planet, Ratchet," Wildfire said, frowning at the medic. "Yes, Maria's about the size of a human and might end up getting squished if she gets underfoot, but the kid's strong."

"And I'm not going to squish so easily," Maria added, folding her arms across her chest. "Wildfire knows."

Ratchet scowled as Matthew nodded in agreement. "That may be so, but--"

"Ratchet, those two are a pair in more than just their abilities," Jolt warned. "Remember what I told you? They're incredibly stubborn, and I doubt that anything that Joshua and I would set up would keep Maria off the battlefield for long."

Ratchet gave Jolt a glare that might have made anyone else melt out of fear; as it was, Jolt did look unnerved.

Ratchet's expression soured as Wildfire drove into the clearing and opened her doors, letting her occupants out onto the grass.

"Man, that thing looks so much more creepy when it's dark," Miko commented, looking over at the _Harbinger._

"Not as creepy as _some_ things," Maria murmured.

"What do you mean?" Jack raised an eyebrow as Wildfire transformed.

"Remember how I said I was involved in the Pokemon world?" When Jack nodded, Maria elaborated, "Lavender Tower. Enough said." She started for the downed ship. "Ultra Magnus still in there, Ratchet?"

Ratchet gave a nod, the sour expression still on his face. "He and Joshua are discussing locations that we could Ground Bridge the children to in order to draw out Megatron's forces."

Maria nodded. "Gotcha. How much longer before we start getting the plan moving?"

"Whenever those two finally manage to decide on their locations." Ratchet sounded irritated. "Considering that they've been prattling for a good fifteen minutes, we may be forced to wait for a while longer."

" 'Forced to'?" Joshua stepped out of the _Harbinger._ "If I'm recalling correctly, Ratchet, you asked us to ensure the maximum spread of Megatron's forces so that we wouldn't be caught from behind. No sense in giving him a pincer attack and having us surrounded, obviously."

Maria gave a low hum, frowning and nodding. "That would put us at a disadvantage, considering our numbers."

"Are you planning on calling in reinforcements?" Wildfire asked.

"Reinforcements?" Raf looked over at Maria in confusion.

"Only if I have to." Maria looked up at the femme. "They've got their own problems to take care of too, remember? Otherwise I probably would have called for my Top Legends team and sent Zek after the Cons while Ray took their ship out of the sky." She shook her head. "It'd be better if we just did this without any _off-world_ help." She sent a pointed look at Ratchet.

The medic snorted. "I doubt that would have changed our present situation."

Maria's expression went flat. "Look up Zekrom and Rayquaza. They're Legendary Dragon Pokemon that could easily cause enough damage to an entire continent if their power was left unchecked. Because they're Legendaries, though, they have things they need to keep an eye on, so I can't call on them all the time."

Miko gawked at Maria in shock while Jack made a spluttering noise. Liz simply rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"We'd better get in there if we're going to get the coordinates that we're sending Jack and Miko to," Liz remarked. She started towards the _Harbinger._ Maria and Matthew followed after her, and the rest of the humans did the same.

Wildfire moved her attention to Ratchet, her optics locking with his. "I know you don't think that Maria should get involved in this, but she was involved the moment she was brought up to Cybertron. And she's not about to let it go, either. Not after having me stuck in her head for a good twelve years."

Ratchet frowned at that. "That does not mean that she is allowed to follow any of you--"

"Ratchet, you don't know what the Pokemon Trainers in the video games _do_ in order to move the storyline forward, do you?"

The medic looked down when he heard Maria's voice, catching sight of her standing in the _Harbinger's_ open doorway.

"I had to take on multiple organizations that had plans for everything from world domination to recreating the entire universe as they knew it," Maria explained. "I think, if I can fight creatures that can control time and space, I can fight the Decepticions. I understand your concern for me, but I can tell you that I've been in some pretty tough situations that have almost been impossible in some cases. I'm not about to just step back when I think that I might be able to be of some help."

With that, Maria turned and walked inside the ship.

Since the _Harbinger_ was big by human standards, Joshua had put up markers and directional arrows at human height to help people get around -- specifically, everyone besides him, since he probably already had the layout of the whole thing memorized. All the same, it didn't take Maria too long to reach the room where the Ground Bridge was located -- as well as the other members of the group.

Maria eyed the group as she entered the room, noticing that Ultra Magnus and Jolt were looking over a set of monitors that had both a map of the United States and what looked like a schematic of the tower they were going to be taking down.

At least, that was what she was able to understand of the Cybertronian glyphs that were on the monitors.

"So, did they figure out where the kids are being sent?" Maria asked, coming to a stop near the entrance of the room.

First Aid glanced down at the red and orange Reploid and nodded. "It's just a matter of time before Ultra Magnus decides to get the plan in motion."

"Gotcha."

** "You're really dead set on helping us out?" ** Bumblebee asked from where he stood nearby. **"I know Wildfire's your partner and you can throw fire around, but--"**

"I wouldn't underestimate her," First Aid cut in. "The entire Carlsdale family has some...rather strange abilities. I wouldn't be surprised if their parents once had some kind of power."

"That would be an awesome idea, but nope." Morgen nodded over to Matthew and Liz, who were climbing up the makeshift ladder to the dashboard that was in front of the monitors. "The only thing we ended up doing was pass the whole World Jumping business onto our kids. That trip to Cybertron was the last one we've made."

"What exactly does this 'World Jumping' business involve, anyway?" Wheeljack leaned in from another entrance as Ratchet arrived.

"As interesting as this discussion on theories might be, we have something else that is far more important on our servos," Ultra Magnus stated stiffly. "Are the natives prepared with their cellular devices?"

"Yeah," Jack replied.

"Let's go already!" Miko yelled. "I wanna see you guys kick King Con's can!"

"Try saying that five times fast," Matthew muttered to Liz as Raf joined them on the dashboard. Liz snickered in response.

"First, Jack." Ratchet moved to the Ground Bridge controls. "Are you ready?"

Jack nodded in response, gripping his phone. "Yeah."

There came a humming noise from the machinery, and a green portal specked with red and blue specks opened with a gentle roar.

Jack took in a breath, then took a running jump and disappeared into the Ground Bridge. After a moment, Ratchet shut it off.

"So, that's a Ground Bridge?" Morgen looked over at Matthew and Maria, who nodded in response to their father's question. "Huh. I thought it'd look more blue-ish."

"Decepticons converging on Jack's location!" Jolt reported.

"Not for long," Ratchet responded.

Maria looked up at the warning, and she caught sight of Jack out in the middle of what looked like Kansas, with five little Decepticon symbols coming towards him from Nevada.

"That's a pretty good number of Decepticons," Maria noted, frowning at the monitor.

"So, that's their symbol?" Liz asked, looking over at her siblings.

Matthew nodded in confirmation. "Yup. Kinda looks like a plane, and I think it's because most of them _are_ planes."

Ratchet turned the Ground Bridge on again, and Jack came running back through. He shut it off and quickly changed the coordinates before turning it back on. "Miko, go."

Miko grinned widely, then did a running leap into the Ground Bridge herself.

Jack climbed up onto the monitor's dashboard, joining Morgen, Liz, Matthew, and Maria. "So, when Miko comes back, I'll pretend to be a Con in an Energon mine, right?"

"You, as well as Morgen Carlsdale," Ultra Magnus replied.

Ratchet opened the Ground Bridge again, and Miko jumped back through, looking grumpy.

"I really could have used a pizza," Miko complained.

"We'll order an entire buffet when Darkmount's been taken down," Morgen suggested. "I did once. Man, Shaggy was hungry that day...."

_ "Shaggy?" _ Maria shot her father a wide-eyed look. "You don't mean the bottomless stomach from _Scooby-Doo_ , do you?"

"Would I be talking about anyone else?"

Ultra Magnus coughed. "Carlsdale, if you would, step forward and prepare your statement to get the attention of the Decepticons."

Morgen gave a nod, then took in a breath and walked over to the mike stand that Joshua had somehow managed to set up. "My lord Megatron! The Autobots are invading the mine! Requesting backup immediately!"

Ultra Magnus didn't look necessarily convinced as Ratchet patched it through. Morgen walked away from the mic, gagging.

"Okay, the next time I'm doing that, I'm saying it in German," Morgen said. "At least then I'd have an excuse to call him _Herr Dummkopf._ "

Maria stifled a laugh as Jack hesitantly moved over as a third pinpoint on the map of the States became covered in Decepticon symbols. " _Oder, 'der Bloede Fuhrer,' ja?"_

Morgen gave his daughter a grin while Jack, Raf, and Miko looked at them in confusion. "Exactly."

Jack's own performance, while not as good as Morgen's, did get a lot of attention from the Decepticons all the same before Ratchet shut off the communication system and turned on the Ground Bridge.

Ultra Magnus started moving out of the room. "Excellent work, Ratchet. Now, let us get moving."

Maria grinned widely and activated her hoverboard with a backflip as Ratchet inputted a set of coordinates into the Ground Bridge's system and activated it. "Right." She flew over to Wildfire's shoulder and exchanged eager looks with the femme. "Let's take down that tower!"

Ratchet sent the teenager a warning glare and looked like he was about to open his mouth to say something, but then he let out an irritated sigh and waved a servo. "All right. If you want to go so badly, you may. But I expect you to stay out of danger, understand?"

"I gotcha, Ratch'," Maria replied.

"We'd better not stand around for any longer," Wildfire commented. "Let's go."

** German Translations: "Herr Dummkopf" -- Lord Idiothead/Dummy **

** "der Bloede Fuhrer" -- the idiot leader **


	6. Take 'em Down!

When Maria and the others came out of the Ground Bridge, the Reploid took a quick moment to have a look around at the area: a flat, desert plain, with mesas scattered around the area...and a large, spiked tower that looked like it definitely didn't belong there.

"That's definitely Darkmount," Shape-Change commented as the Ground Bridge closed behind her. "It doesn't look like Megatron's made any changes to his usual designs."

Wheeljack grunted in agreement. "Are we gonna be using the code names from here on in? Or are we gonna be sticking with our regular names?"

"Do the stupid Cons speak English?" Wildfire responded, rolling her shoulders.

 _::The ones in the alternate dimension did::_ Matthew spoke up over the comm-link. _::It's probably safe to assume that these guys can, too::_

 _::Alternate dimension Cons?::_ Miko repeated in surprise. _::How--::_

"Long story," Wildfire interrupted. "We should split up and get moving if we're going to do anything about that tower."

Wheeljack grinned widely and grabbed what looked like two short, stout metal sticks with timers attached. "I've got an idea that we could use to blow an opening in the base of it. Come on."

The mostly-white Wrecker quickly led part of the group over to the base of Darkmount, slipping behind a large boulder before twisting one of the sticks and tossing it out. Arcee, Bumblebee, and Sparkseer slipped off in another direction while Maria, Wildfire, and Shape-Change followed the two Wreckers.

"Fire in the hole," Wheeljack said, grinning as the beeping noise coming from his chosen weapon sped up before a loud explosion hit the side of the building.

Maria whistled as the blue smoke from the explosion quickly cleared. "That's a big grenade."

Wheeljack snickered. "Well, I try." He prepped his other grenade and tossed it. "Fire in another hole."

The grenade flew far, then hit against the side of Darkmount before exploding in another show of bright blue Energon.

"Let's go!" Wheeljack and Bulkhead started running towards the building. Maria was about to fly after them when Shape-Change put a servo in front of the Reploid.

"Look up," the gray femme said warningly.

Maria frowned up at the tower and noticed that there was something coming. More like a lot of somethings, if the small cloud of dots around the top of Darkmount was any indication.

The Reploid raised a hand in order to try and limit her vision a little so that she could see the specs more clearly against the night sky. _If only there was a little more light...._

"Decepticon Seekers?" Wildfire asked, frowning. A large grin appeared on her face moments later as her servos suddenly shifted into blasters. "I could use some target practice. It's been a while since I used these things, and I don't want to get rusty."

Maria followed her friend's lead and shifted her right arm into her Buster. "I haven't shot at anything that far away before. It looks like they're getting closer, though."

"All the better to shoot at!" Wildfire grinned widely and aimed upward before she started firing. The large energy blasts caused Maria to move back in surprise at seeing how big the blasts were. That, and the resulting explosions that took place in the sky as the Vehicon Seekers started landing on the desert ground in front of them.

Maria's eyes narrowed slightly as she brought up her right arm and started charging up energy while Bulkhead and Wheeljack started to go crazy on the Seekers themselves -- Wheeljack using an Energon whip that Ultra Magnus had let him take from the weapon stores on his shuttle. The Reploid quickly lined up her Buster with a Seeker's neck and fired. "Charged Stun Shot!"

A large sphere of crackling yellow energy exploded out and collided with the Seeker, causing it to jerk suddenly and fall back, sparks flying.

"Whoa!" Bulkhead looked back in surprise. "How did you manage that?"'

"It's in my systems!" Maria replied cheerily. "I can make freeze shots, too, but anything other than my default takes more energy."

"As helpful as that is, it would probably be more helpful if you decided to use your other abilities here," Shape-Change admonished. She grabbed a Seeker and threw it into another Seeker.

"Abilities?" Wheeljack repeated.

"I know!" Maria called back. She dodged a blaster's shot as it was sent in her direction, her Buster shifting back to her normal hand as she went. "I just wanted to see how a Charged Shot would do against these guys!"

"Well, you've seen it!" Wildfire barked back. "Now give us a hand, will you?!"

"All right, all right!" Maria held her arms out and clenched her fists, bringing out a pair of blades form the sides of her arms' armor before covering them in flames and shooting forwards into the battle. She flew around, dodging laser blasts and reaching claws as best she could as the Reploid slashed at any exposed joints she came close to.

That didn't really do as much as as the Autobots' work, however -- those three were smashing the Seekers in their helms and blasting them in the chest and doing other such things in order to take the Cons down. This left Maria as nothing more than a fiery nuisance that left martially melted slashes through their armor.

Maria gained a snarling expression as she rammed into the leg of a Seeker and pulled away, dragging her left arm along the Con's armor as she melted the metal. Another slash brought Energon pouring out of the open slash, accompanied by the Con suddenly losing any control of his leg from the knee joint down. "This is starting to get annoying."

"Annoying how?" Wildfire replied as she knocked the Con over the head. "We're doing a pretty good job at bringing down their numbers."

"Yeah, but I haven't seen an end to them yet, have you? Not to mention I haven't been able to make as big a dent in them as you have." Maria's fingers twitched, and she caught sight of a purple blast coming for her before zigzagging out of the way. "And I'm not exactly as big as you guys are, either!"

"Well, maybe you should have rethought coming with us in the first place!" responded Bulkhead.

Maria scowled at that, and probably would have responded were it not for the sudden, resounding screech that came from the sky above their heads. The Reploid instantly looked up while Wheeljack and Bulkhead nearly froze for a second before knocking down the Cons that they had been beating down a moment ago.

"What was that?" Maria asked, frowning up at Darkmount.

Wheeljack and Bulkhead exchanged glances before they started shooting at what looked like a winged creature with spikes on its tail. The thing looked like it was coming down from the top of the tower and probably would have started attacking the Bots had Magnus not decided to arrive right then with his shuttle.

"Is that thing a _dragon_?" Maria demanded, getting a better view of the thing as Magnus started to climb. "I didn't think that those things existed on this world!"

"That's a mechanical monster that's been following us!" Wheeljack replied, glancing back and pointing upward.

_::Seriously?! Stupid Puff is there?!::_

_::Puff? Really, Miko?::_ Matthew sounded amused. _::I didn't think you were into old American cartoons::_

There was a spluttering noise from the Japanese exchange student while Magnus was saying something that Maria couldn't quite catch.

A moment later, Magnus' shuttle moved suddenly as a green, swirling portal appeared out of nowhere and sucked the dragon-thing inside.

 _::That should take care of him. I highly doubt that the..."mecha dragon's" systems will be able to handle the cold temperatures::_ Ratchet commented.

_::Thank you, Ratchet. Continue the attack, Autobots! Lock and load!::_

Maria frowned at that. "Is that last bit supposed to be Magnus' catchphrase?"

"Yeah." Wheeljack managed to roll his optics as he sliced off a Seeker's arm. "He's been saying it ever since Optimus started saying 'roll out'. I think he's just jealous of the Prime or something."

"Speaking of which, you said he was missing." Wildfire's left blaster cannon shifted suddenly, revealing her servo and a large blade coming out from an opening in the armor above her servo. The femme spun, slashing off the head of a Seeker -- causing Maria to flinch -- before blasting another Seeker who looked like was trying to take Bumblebee down from behind. "Any guesses on where he is right now, Maria?"

"Why are you asking her?" Bulkhead ducked a punch from a Seeker and slammed his blaster into the Con's chest, shooting the armor off and sending his opponent flying.

"I never got a good look at any Bots!" Maria replied, guessing at what Wildfire was referring to. "All I saw was the base getting blown up! I never saw where anyone went!"

"Saw?" Bulkhead repeated. "What do you--"

"Explain later!" Wildfire barked back. "We're kind of in the middle of a battlefield right now!"

"Right!" Maria started moving again, pulling at her energy to bring more of her flames into play. "Let's see what these guys think of this! White Flare: Fifty Percent! Fire Blast!"

The five-pointed star-shaped explosion of flames that resulted sent a number of Seekers flying, portions of their armor melted.

Bulkhead jumped back as his opponent was caught up in the firestorm. "Whoa! That's a lot of fire!"

Wheeljack whistled. "Wow. You've got a heck of a partner there, Wildfire."

Maria gave a wide grin while Wildfire smirked at the Wrecker's praise.

"Well, I try," Maria chirped.

 _::Stealth team. Status report::_ Magnus ordered.

 _::We're having a little trouble reaching the objective::_ Arcee responded. Maria could hear the blaster fire over the communication system.

 _::Security is tighter than we anticipated, sir::_ Sparkseer added.

 _::Keep them occupied::_ Magnus responded.

Wildfire snorted. Maria rolled her eyes.

Shape-Change grabbed the both of them rather abruptly and yanked them back just seconds before the area in front of them was lit up--

_FWOOOM!_

_\--_ in an explosion of fire and smoke, catching Bulkhead and Wheeljack in the crossfire.

Maria stared with wide eyes from where she was being held in Shape-Change's servo as Wheeljack and Bulkhead were thrown back by the explosion. "Wh-what the-- What kind of Seeker/Vehicon thing can unleash an attack like _that_?"

Wildfire's optics narrowed as she caught sight of the figure that was walking through the flames. "That's no Vehicon...." A moment later, she let out a hiss. "It's Frankenstein."

Maria blinked, then frowned. "Frankenstein...I remember you mentioning him before, but I don't think --"

"We'll fill you in on that later," Shape-Change replied quickly. "For now, you need to go and meet up with Ultra Magnus up by the fusion cannons. Make sure you aren't seen."

"SC, what are you--"

"Flare-Up, _go."_ Wildfire gave the Reploid a pointed glare. "We'll be fine. Trust me."

Maria looked up at the red and orange femme for only a moment, then gave a hesitant nod. "All right. If you say so." She looked upward and sent a large amount of energy into her hoverboard before shooting upwards, only thinking for a second about her Light Refractor before she disappeared from sight.

**Change in POV -- Wildfire**

I couldn't believe that Shockwave, of all mechs, had come down and decided to get involved. Or that he was even on the planet, for that matter.

"Surrender," the one-optic'd mech said, pointing his cannon-for-an-arm at Shape-Change and me. "It would be illogical to continue fighting when I can simply offline your allies." He pointed the cannon down at Bulkhead and Wheeljack, who stopped trying to get up to their feet when they got that thing in their faces.

I gritted my denta. The first battle I manage to get back into without being in the back of Maria's head, and I was clearly losing.

I'd lost my edge.

**Change in POV -- Maria, 3rd**

Maria glanced back for a moment as Wildfire and the others backed away from the purple Con with the glowing red optic in the center of his -- at least, she _thought_ he was a he -- face.

"They probably should have called him Cyclops instead of Frankenstein," Maria muttered, frowning. "He doesn't really _look_ like a mad scientist...."

The Reploid shook her head, deciding to ask the others about it later. She had faith that herself and the others wouldn't be captured (for long) by the Decepticons.

She just hoped that they would be able to do something before the gigantic laser cannons were fired off.

Maria and her hoverboard managed to clear the top of Darkmount in minutes, dodging around Seekers while still keeping the Refractor's ability up. She couldn't see any clear openings in the path she had taken, so she decided to reach the top of the tower and work her way down in order to find Ultra Magnus.

It turned out that she didn't even need to do that.

Maria leveled out and jumped off her hoverboard as a group of metal giants came up onto the level. Most of them were the purple Vehicons -- a kind of Con that Maria had only seen a few times in one other situation -- but three of the Cybertronians were familiar.

The Reploid hid behind one of the columns jutting out at the edge of the rooftop as she flickered back into view, watching as Megatron dragged Ultra Magnus across the roof of the base. Starscream -- the first time that Maria had ever seen the Seeker in person -- followed after the King Con, wings up high.

She bit her lower lip, considering what exactly she could do in this situation. She wanted to rescue Magnus, but that meant showing herself to her world's Megatron, and she didn't want to reveal all of her cards too early to the Cons, considering that Buckethead was among the more dangerous Cons that the Reploid had run into during her last dimensional journey.

And it didn't matter that Brainiac had been involved in _that_ particular problem.

Maria noticed that Starscream was saying something, and decided that she needed to get a little closer in order to figure out what was going on. Activating her Light Refractor again, she started to cautiously move forward.

"...and there was no sign of Optimus Prime," Starscream sneered as Maria got close enough to hear what was being said.

Starscream's statement made Maria pause halfway across the rooftop. Optimus hadn't shown up yet? Then...where was he?

Megatron gave an interested hum before turning to the collapsed Autobot. "So tell me, Commander, where might your leader be?"

When Magnus didn't say anything, Megatron kicked the Autobot hard enough to send him skidding across the roof a little bit. Magnus started groaning and moving.

"I will not ask again!" Megatron snarled, walking over to the struggling mech.

Maria frowned. Did Magnus know where Optimus was? No one had heard from him yet...

"If I knew...I wouldn't tell you," Magnus responded, moving to look up at Megatron from where he was kneeling on the metal roof.

Maria didn't like the sound of that.

"Very well." Maria flinched as Megatron's sword came screeching out of its hiding place under his fusion cannon before turning to Starscream. "Execute the prisoners, and fire each cannon at the nearest metropolis within its sights. It is time to show the known universe that this planet belongs to Megatro--"

"Master," Starscream interrupted, optics on the skies. "Something's coming."

Maria blinked a couple times when she heard that. _Something's coming?_ She turned her head in the direction that Starscream was looking, and caught sight of something that looked very small and very fast coming towards Darkmount.

"The Predacon?" Megatron asked.

Maria frowned. "Predacon? What kind of creature is that?"

Starsctream hummed. "No...not beasty enough." He backed up a couple steps as Megatron started to move towards the edge of the roof, completely ignoring Magnus as he started to get up.

Maria took her chance and used her jet boosters to dash over to where the mech was, coming to a stop next to one of his servos. From her new vantage point, she looked over at the object in the distance that was coming in fast.

_Beasty enough...are they talking about the "mecha dragon?"_

_::That's impossible::_ muttered Ratchet suddenly.

 _::What is it?::_ Jack asked.

_::An Autobot signal, but it's...airborne. We don't have any fliers in the area that I know of::_

Maria frowned. "Do you think someone may have heard about what is going on and is coming to our rescue? Like one of those Aerialbots you guys mentioned?"

 _::I'm not sure::_ Ratchet clearly sounded uncertain about the situation.

"I know that color scheme," Starscream muttered, frowning at what was coming at the citadel.

The statement caught Maria's attention, and she turned her attention fully on the figure again. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she attempted to zoom in on the oncoming figure, but it was a little bit difficult, considering that there was a lot of glare from the rising sun hitting her in the face. _Since when was the sun rising? We must have been up longer getting our plan moving than I had thought...._

It wasn't too long before Maria could see who was coming, and her eyes widened in complete shock.

"Wait, he can't fly," Starscream commented, frowning. He looked at Megatron in confusion. "Can he?"

"No way...." A grin came across Maria's face as she clearly saw the colors of the figure who was flying in. "Is it him?"

Maria could feel an adrenaline rush coming as she watched the figure then.

 _::Is it who?::_ Ratchet asked irritably on the other end of the comm-link.

It was right then that Maria managed to get her answer.

A large, red and blue mech flew in and landed on the roof of Darkmount, then used his momentum to slam a punch into Megatron, followed by a second, followed by an uppercut and a slam into the Con's chest, which sent Megatron flying into the throne at the other end of the rooftop. The throne that was sitting there was shattered on impact.

A look of awe crossed Maria's face as her Light Refractor finally ran out of juice. "Whoa....I think he's bigger than I remember."

Magnus grunted as he started to get to his feet. At the same time, the Vehicons on the roof started to fire on the red and blue mech. However, the blaster shots didn't faze him; instead, the mech reached behind his back and pulled out what looked like a _gigantic_ blaster, which promptly took out all the Vehicons machine-gun style.

Starscream, who was standing behind the red and blue mech, started to back up nervously. However, the Seeker had forgotten that Magnus was behind him.

Maria let out a short bark of laughter as Magnus gave Starscream an uppercut of his own, sending the Seeker skidding across the roof. "Nice one!"

The new mech on the scene shifted his stance so that he could look behind him. Maria looked up at his face in amazement and delight as what looked like a mouth guard slid back.

"Commander?" the mech asked, surprised upon seeing Magnus.

"Sir, you are looking...robust," Magnus commented in reply, looking up at mech.

Maria nodded in agreement at the comment, amazement still welling up inside her as she gained a wide grin. "Yeah...you're looking really good, Optimus."

Optimus glanced down at the small figure standing at Magnus' feet and frowned disapprovingly. "Humans should not be allowed on this battleground."

Maria frowned as her gears started to hum, granting her a rush of energy. "I'm not human anymore, technically. Besides, I can defend myself pretty well." Flames burst from her shoulders and ran down her arms, as though that action proved Maria's statement true.

Optimus looked at the Reploid in minor surprise. "Wildfire?"

"Nope. I'm--"

"Perhaps we can discuss this later," Magnus interrupted. "It is paramount that we disable the fusion cannons below." He motioned to the edge of the roof.

"Party pooper," Maria muttered, scowling at the Wrecker.

"Understood," Optimus responded. He ran for the edge of the roof and took off; Maria caught sight of what looked like a jet pack on his back as he started to circle the tower.

"Attention all units," Magnus called out, "Optimus has returned."

Maria grinned as she heard Jack, Ratchet, Miko, and Raf let out exclamations of relief on the other end of the comm-link.

"I repeat, Optimus is alive and quite well."

 _::Yes!::_ Fowler exclaimed.

Maria couldn't help but let out a laugh at the Agent's exclamation. "I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this place crumble down into nothing."

"Maria. Come." Ultra Magnus started towards the edge of the tower's top floor. At the Autobot's statement, the Reploid quickly ran over, her grin fading into a more serious expression as she climbed up onto the mech's waiting servo, holding onto one of his digits as Magnus jumped off the rooftop and landed on his waiting shuttle before opening a hatch and disappearing inside.

"What now?" Maria looked up at Magnus as she was put down on the dashboard of the shuttle.

"Now we let the local humans do their work." Magnus took the controls and turned off the autopilot, starting to circle around Darkmount. "Autobots, clear the area."

With that, Magnus turned the shuttle and started away from the Con tower. Maria turned and watched out the window at the front of the shuttle as Magnus flew past a small group of what looked like fighter planes.

Seeing them fly past made Maria wish that there was a window at the back of the shuttle so that she could see Darkmount explode and collapse.

Maria absently put a hand to her ear. "Wildfire, please get a good look as Darkmount collapses and show me with mirages later?"

Wildfire let out a laugh. _::Sure, kiddo. That explosion was glorious::_


	7. Chapter 7

"On behalf of the President and the Joint Chiefs, I thank you all for your selfless heroism in defense of this planet. I'm only sorry that the world can't yet know of your undying dedication, because I for one owe you my life, my liberty, and my future." Fowler saluted the mixed group of humans and Cybertronians in front of him.

Maria grinned and rubbed the back of her head, looking sheepish while Morgen and Kate exchanged smiles.

Ultra Magnus turned to look up at Optimus. "Sir, I am honored to relinquish command of the Autobots to you."

Optimus nodded to the shorter, blue-painted mech. "Welcome to Earth, Ultra Magnus. And to Team Prime." He looked over at the others: Bumblebee, Arcee, Wheeljack, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen -- who had gawked at Maria and the Bots she had brought with her when Fowler had summoned them to an army base in the middle of Nevada. Then Optimus turned to look at Wildfire and the others. "And the same to you. It has been far too long since we last were able to meet face to face."

"You've got that right," Wildfire commented.

Miko ran over to stand in front of Optimus. "Okay, someone's gotta say it. Optimus 2.0 is rad!" She looked over at Ratchet. "Imagine what the Forge could do for your bod."

Ratchet snorted, then looked back at the golden and blue hammer that was leaning against the wall of the warehouse. "Is it true that the Forge has been drained of its power? And that any hope of rebuilding the Omega Lock has truly been lost?" He looked over at Smokescreen.

The younger mech bowed his head. "I...did what I felt was right."

"And your instincts have again proven to be quite sound," Ratchet replied.

"You know, I didn't get an _official_ enough introduction to any of you," Fowler spoke up suddenly, looking pointedly over at Wildfire and the humans gathered around her and her companions' feet. "Mind taking care of that now?"

"Of course, Agent Fowler." Sparkseer bowed. "I am Sparkseer, a former gladiator and 'aura adept,' as my abilities have been described in your language. My companion, Matthew Carlsdale, has similar abilities as I, but without the power backlash that I experience."

"Yo," Matthew said, giving a loose salute and a wink.

"I am Shape-Change, scout and Wrecker." Shape-Change gave a slight smile and nodded to the African American. "I am also a shifter, but I rarely make use of those abilities. My partner, Khrista Langstrom, was involved in an incident of disappearances which took place in the Midwest last year, and has some rather strange abilities of her own."

Khrista grinned at the introduction. "Yup. I guess you could say that I'm a human Legendary."

"And I'm Jolt." Jolt gave a wave, grinning. "If there's anything mechanical that needs repairs, you can come to me. My buddy Joshua and I have a lab out in the Midwest that's connected to an Energon mine."

"We've been working on a few things," Joshua added. "Like adapting Jolt's electrical abilities to work with different possible weapons."

"Hi!" A certain yellow mech waved cheerily. "I'm Coil! Jolt's my big brother! And Collin's my friend!"

"Hi!" Collin waved, smiling brightly.

The smaller yellow mech waving got a cooing noise from Bumblebee and Miko, causing Maria to hold back a round of snickers.

"I'm First Aid." The red and white femme gave a short bow. "I'm a medic, like Ratchet. My partner is Elizabeth Carlsdale."

"I prefer Liz," Liz spoke up, folding her arms across her chest.

"And I'm Wildfire, a former gladiator from Kaon." Wildfire smirked. "Maria down there's my partner."

Maria grinned and thrust her right fist into the air.

"You'd better not forget about us!" Morgen called out playfully. "I'm Morgen Carlsdale, and this is my wife, Kate. We know the Autobots from _waaaay_ back."

"Oh, really?" Fowler leaned over the edge of the platform he was standing on in order to get a better look at the two of them. "Then why is it that I haven't heard of you before now?"

"That has more to do with the circumstances of our meeting and the time that has passed since then than anything else," Optimus responded. He got down on one knee, leaning down in order to get a better look at the human figures standing on the floor of the warehouse. "It seems that you have not aged much since I last saw you. How much time has passed for you, Morgen?"

"Twelve years, give or take a few months." Morgen made a "so-so" motion, grinning. "Time can really mess with you if it's warped somehow, huh?"

Maria snickered. "Oh, Dad...."

Arcee frowned. "Does that mean that, out of your children...Maria and Matthew are--"

"Yup!" Maria grinned widely.

"We were the two who were brought along for the ride," Matthew confirmed.

"What ride?" Miko hopped over, curious.

"Those two got to go to Cybertron in the middle of the war with their parents when they were little." Khrista jabbed a thumb in the direction of the two elder Carlsdales. "According to them, all the nicknames that the Bots use for the Cons came from them."

"Seriously?!" Miko rounded on Maria and Matthew with wide eyes.

"That's a little unbelievable," Fowler said, frowning.

Maria smirked. "And this isn't?" Her right arm exploded into flames, causing Miko to squeal excitedly.

Fowler spluttered while the Autobots stared down at Maria in surprise or amusement.

Morgen laughed. "You know, you really shouldn't try to show off so much like that. It's gonna lose it's novelty pretty fast."

"I already used Fire Blast on a number of Seekers," Maria replied, waving off her father's comment.

"If anything, they're probably going to think it was _me_ ," Wildfire corrected.

"Wildfire. Maria." Optimus frowned as he rose to his full height. "How is it possible that a human can share the same abilities as a Cybertronian? And how is it possible that time has warped for you enough that the time we took traveling from Cybertron to Earth was shorter for you here?"

Maria looked up at Wildfire, and frowned curiously when she saw the smirk that had appeared at the femme's face. "Wildfire? What's with that look?"

Wildfire ignored Maria's comment. "Optimus, do you remember that meteor shower that one night? You mentioned something about an entry in the Hall of Records archives on a group you referred to as 'Planet Hoppers'."

Maria blinked once. Twice. Then she, Matthew, and their parents exchanged looks before snickering. "Planet Hoppers? Seriously?"

"I do recall speaking of such matters," Optimus responded. "Why is it that you ask me of this?"

"I found out a few years ago that you actually had it mistranslated. The title actually is 'World Jumper'."

There was a pause for a moment as this new information sank in. Maria could practically _hear_ the gears turning in everyone's heads, and she found herself shifting from one foot to the other in eager anticipation of what was to come.

"How did you manage to come across this information?" Optimus inquired, raising an optic ridge.

Wildfire motioned down at the human figures at her feet. "Maria was given the title about three years ago. You wouldn't _believe_ the places that she's dragged me to."

Maria smirked when Optimus' gaze shot down to her, while the other Cybertronians who didn't know about all of her abilities exchanged expressions of confusion and surprise.

Except for Ultra Magnus and Fowler, who just looked skeptical at the idea.

"World Jumpers or Planet Hoppers are supposed to be nothing more than myths," Ultra Magnus stated matter-of-factly. "As are the so-called 'other worlds' that they claim to be able to have access to."

Maria closed one eye, gaining an annoyed expression. "Oh, really? I bet I can convince you otherwise." She cracked her fingers before rubbing her hands together. "Time for a memory mirage."

"Which world?" Matthew asked.

"The one with the comic book heroes -- you know, where we were not too long ago." Maria grinned at her brother. "I'm thinking of when everything went wonko before the computer virus decided to make his move. You know -- when the weather and the world went crazy?"

Matthew's eyes widened. "Are you going to show them everything from that?"

"Everything...? Um...I don't think I should need to."

"What are you talking about?" Miko asked, frowning.

"You'll see." Maria shot the Japanese girl a grin before calling out, "Mirage Memory: Unicron's Awakening!"

 _That_ got everyone's attention. They turned sharply to look at the screen that had appeared above Maria's head, revealing Maria marching towards a tall, muscular man in a black costume with bat ears sticking out of his hood. Next to him was a woman wearing red, white, blue, and gold, and the two of them were looking at a map of the world...and the weather on it was going crazy.

_"I heard about the earthquakes," Maria stated. "Has anything else popped up since then?"_

_"Storms have been gaining strength across the globe," Batman replied without bothering to look over at the Reploid. "And then there's this." A "satellite's eye view" photo was shown of a volcano spewing out a dark purple, lava-like substance. "According to our sensors, the eruption started almost at the same time as the earthquakes, and it seems to be releasing an energy signature similar to Energon, but corrupted."_

_"Which shouldn't be possible." Wonder Woman motioned to the data. "Everything seems to point to something that might have burrowed under the earth's crust. A Reach fail safe, maybe?"_

_Maria frowned, then shook her head. "There's no way that it's a Reach fail safe -- the electro-magnetic disrupter thingies was their fail safe."_

_Batman looked over at Maria. "You know something."_

_Maria shot the Dark Knight a surprised look. "No, I don't! I haven't heard anything about this in either your comics or anybody else's! I'm just plain flabbergasted!"_

_A loud beeping noise suddenly came from the computer system and the data disappeared in a green flash, being replaced by a red, face-like symbol that pulsed for a few minutes before another green flash replaced it, allowing for two familiar figures to appear._

_::Batman, Wonder Woman, Flare-Up:: Ratchet stated, nodding to each in turn. ::I suppose you have already seen the news reports?::_

_"Yes," Batman replied grimly. "What have you found out?"_

_::Nothing good:: came the other figure's reply. Matthew--who was standing on Ratchet's shoulder--had a strangely grim look on his face that made Maria frown slightly._

_"What is it?" Maria asked, her blue eyes darkening as she frowned. "It's not another one of Lex's schemes, is it?"_

_::No. It's worse than anything that he's ever managed to dish out:: Matthew ran a hand through his brown hair, sending it up in spikes. It looked ragged enough that Maria suspected that her brother had probably gone without sleep the night before. ::There's this old Cybertronian prophecy that Ratchet and the others told me about a few days back. What was it again, Ratchet?::_

_::And it was written in the Covenant of Primus that when the 47 spheres align, a perpetual conflict will culminate upon a world forged from chaos:: the medic recited grimly. ::And the weak shall perish in the shadow of a rising darkness::_

_Maria sighed, then shook her head. "That sounds like a doom prophecy if I've ever heard one."_

_"You don't recognize it?" Wonder Woman asked._

_The blue-eyed Reploid shook her head again. "Just that it's probably bad news."_

_::It is:: Ratchet replied grimly. ::Originally, we had thought that the planet that was going to be affected was Cybertron. Now, we know for certain that the planet spoken of in the prophecy is Earth::_

_::Even stranger is that these exact same events happened on our world when you were gone during Spring Break:: Matthew added._

_"This happened on_ our _world?!" Maria repeated in shock._

_Matthew nodded. ::Yeah. Our area was hit with a power outage because of electro-magnetic disruptions that people claimed were because of a planetary alignment. And it gets worse from there. Those earthquakes that are being talked about? The ones that happened at once?::_

_Maria was starting to get that "bad feeling" in her gut, like someone was twisting the cables there a little too tightly. "What about them?"_

_::When you combine the tremors together into one frequency, it sounds like this:: Ratchet pressed a few keys, and the screen split in half: one side still showed Ratchet and Matthew, but the other side showed a green screen with a pulse continuously going across it, causing a familiar sound to resonate._

_"That sounds like a heartbeat," Wonder Woman noted, frowning._

_"But not a human one," Batman continued._

_Ratchet nodded gravely. ::This is a Spark signature -- I suppose you might call it a "Sparkbeat". There is a Cybertronian within this planet...and it is possible that the Cybertronian is Unicron::_

_"Unicron...." Maria repeated, rolling the name around in her mouth._

_"How dangerous is this Unicron?" Wonder Woman asked._

_"And how can we get him out of our planet?" Batman added._

_::Unicron is a source of ancient evil that was said to have been destroyed long ago:: Ratchet replied grimly. ::It seems that your planet formed around him, so removing him would be impossible. It would destroy your world entirely::_

_::Besides, according to other things that the Bots have told us, he's the source of all the Dark Energon that's coming out of that volcano:: Matthew added. ::If any of us were going to go into the planet, none of us might come back out::_

_"So, what now?" Maria asked. "I don't want to sit around and wait for the world to end, that's for sure."_

_::Optimus has gone out to inspect the epicenters of the tremors:: Ratchet replied. ::We are unsure as of yet how to move further with the situation::_

_"OK.... Can you get a Ground Bridge to my coordinates?"_

_::I believe so. But--::_

_"No buts, Ratchet. And Batman and Wonder Woman are coming along, too."_

_Ratchet's optics narrowed. ::Very well:: The connection was cut, and a moment later, a swirling Ground Bridge appeared behind them._

_"Come on." Maria started to walk towards the portal. "You guys have yet to meet the Autobots officially, anyway."_

Maria made a waving motion, dispelling the mirage-screen. "You guys can probably guess what happened after that. Or remember, I guess, if you were on the planet when Unicron was trying to wake up."

Everyone stared at Maria in shock and surprise.

"Sir," Ultra Magnus stated, turning to look at Optimus, "is there truth in what this native has shown us?"

"There is," Optimus responded grimly. "Unicron is the core of this world. During a planetary alignment earlier this year, he was nearly awoken. It took a joint attack from both Autobots and Decepticons in order to keep him from from fully awakening. However, we did not have the assistance of the allies that this other world did."

"I doubt that you had such a character as Maria on your side, either," Sparkseer intoned. "Especially considering what she did _afterwards._ "

"What did you do??" Miko looked at Maria with eager eyes.

"I may have, uh..." Maria rubbed the back of her head while giving a sheepish grin. "...I may have snuck onto the _Nemesis_ and spent a couple days with Orion Pax."

"Seriously?!" Jack yelped.

"Cool!" Miko exclaimed.

Morgen and Katie frowned down at their daughter, sending a chill down her spine, but she didn't turn to look over at either of them.

"How did you manage to get away without being caught by the Cons?" Raf asked, frowning. "Or did you?"

Maria and Wildfire exchanged glances.

"I still don't know what to do with out about you _hacking_ my communications channel," Maria muttered, scowling.

"Like you were even _thinking_ of telling him," Wildfire responded. "What were you planning on doing when Megatron showed up?"

"I was _thinking_ of turning on my Light Refractor!"

"And when that ran out of juice? Soundwave was going to find you sooner or later."

Maria growled. "You _still_ should have checked in with me first."

"What are you two _talking_ about?" Wheeljack demanded, annoyed.

Wildfire glanced over at the Wrecker for a moment, then glanced over at Optimus before looking down at Maria. The femme smirked as Maria let out a sigh.

"Alpha-Beta: Activate."

Maria stiffened as soon as Wildfire spoke those words, and her armor suddenly flashed, changing colors into what looked like a mimicry of Wildfire's. Then Maria folded her arms across her chest and stared straight ahead while the Autobots and humans looked at her in surprise.

"Did...did we just see the Protocol in action?" Liz asked, blinking.

Khrista did a double-take. "The _what?"_

"Protocol?" Arcee repeated, frowning.

"Long story short, Maria here isn't human," Wildfire stated somewhat abruptly. "She _used_ to be, but after she ran into a bit of an accident on another planet, she ended up becoming what one _might_ call the blueprint for MegaMan X, if you humans keep up with those video games like Matthew does."

"Who?" Bulkhead asked.

"He's a video game character," Miko explained, grinning. "He's a robot that goes and hunts down robots that are acting crazy! I _loved_ playing that game when I was little!"

"Well, his world is real, too." Wildfire's expression darkened. "And so is Wily. After Dr. Thomas Light saved Maria's life by transferring her consciousness into the prototype Reploid shell she's presently inhabiting, the stereotypical villain in that world somehow managed to get the idea into his head that it might be a good idea to get her to _his_ side. Usually, since we're saying _robots_ and not _mechs_ and _femmes_ , anything robotic that popped up was artificially created."

"So Wily thought no different with me than he did with any of Light's works," Maria added grimly. "He didn't take into account anything other than my perceived origins, and he did his very best to capture me and...reprogram me to work for him."

"But it didn't work, right?" Raf asked. "At least, not all the way."

Maria glanced up at Wildfire, and the femme gave a slight nod before the Reploid continued.

"It worked too well at first. The program Wily used not only removed my free will, but completely wiped me of my personality. I'm glad that Dr. Light came to my rescue and reversed it. He couldn't remove all of the program's effects, however. What remains is what I've come to term as the Protocol."

Khrista looked a little thrown off at this news, blinking rapidly. When she saw the look she was getting from Joshua, she shook her head at her cousin before looking back at Wildfire and Maria.

"It basically limits her freedoms, and she acts more like a soldier than anything else," Wildfire added. "Certain codes can activate and deactivate it, and while Maria has at least some control over who she tells, as soon as it's active, well...." She motioned to the Reploid below her, who hadn't moved from the position she had taken.

"How is this relevant with what took place on the _Nemesis?"_ Optimus inquired, frowning.

"I told Orion Pax the access codes, and Maria remained under Protocol until after Jack got back and restored his -- your -- memories," Wildfire responded. "If Maria had shown you the memory from that time, we would have had to explain the situation with her programming anyway." The femme muttered something under her breath, causing Maria's armor to flash back to its normal colors.

"Yeah." Maria's stance relaxed as she rubbed the back of her head, looking away from the others. "I didn't think _that_ would come up this early, though...." She looked over at Miko, who had a wide-eyed expression on her face. "Don't activate it unless you absolutely have to. Please. It's not something that I want people to mess around with."

Miko nodded, eyes still wide.

"So, you and Joshua are both robots?" Raf piped up.

Joshua nodded. "The circumstances that brought us into this situation are both different, but we are technically Replicating Androids, or Reploids, to use the MegaMan term."

"He had a run-in with a Robotosizer," Maria added, jabbing a thumb at her friend. "I ended up having my entire self moved into this body, so technically, Joshua never lost his in the first place."

"A what?" Jack repeated.

"A device that changes organic material into a mechanical one," Joshua explained. "Usually, the process leaves the victim without any free will. At all."

"It happened on another world, though, so I doubt it's gonna happen here anytime soon." Maria waved off the look the two of them were getting from Fowler. "Can we talk about something else now?"

"How is it that Coil is so small compared to the rest of you?" Nurse Darby spoke up suddenly. "Are there Cybertronians that are naturally that size? Or is he a child?"

"While there are Cybertronians that are naturally his size -- and possibly _smaller_ \-- known as Mini-Cons, Coil is an exception to that," Ratchet explained. He eyed the small mech. "Shape-Change rescued him from Crystal City in the middle of the war, and considering that he has grown since I last saw him, I believe a check-up is in order."

Coil's optics widened. "Uh-oh."

The reaction got a smirk on Wildfire's face.

"And I would like to look over the rest of you, as well," Ratchet added. "Including you two 'Reploids'."

Wildfire's smirk was gone in a flash.

Maria, on the other hand, blinked blankly. "Uh...okay? But Joshua and I can probably handle any repairs we might need just fine."

"All the same, you are going to need to be entered into the system." Ratchet eyed the two of them critically. "The two of you have clearly registered Sparks, and I would like to be able to know where you are."

Maria blinked at that, and exchanged looks with Joshua, who raised an eyebrow in response.

"And after you do that, would you mind using that Ground Bridge thing to get some of us home?" Morgen spoke up. "I've got to report into the school I work at so that I can turn in next year's syllabus."

"And I'm sure that Joshua's and Khrista's parents are going to be wondering where they are," Kate added.

Khrista rolled her eyes and let out a groan. "Great. Mom and Dad had thought it was bad enough that I could disappear at random and go to other worlds. If I start disappearing at random a lot more often, then they're going to know that there's something up."

"What makes you think that you're going to get involved?" Arcee responded, frowning. "We have enough humans to keep an eye on, in case you haven't noticed."

"Maria and Joshua aren't human, and I'm not entirely human, either." Khrista got down into a crouch as her shirt suddenly shifted from dull red to sky blue before the teenager jumped up.

Only, Khrista didn't come back down. Instead, she flew upward, circling casually before stopping in front of Arcee's face with her hands on her hips.

"See?" Khrista smirked while Maria grinned from where she was standing on the ground below. "I can do more than just walk through someone's feet."

Liz held up a hand, and a blue flash lit up the area before she gripped a curved sword tightly. "And I'm not just a spectator, either, even though I haven't had as much time to work on what I can do."

Matthew rolled his eyes. "Yeah; you and your water powers."

"We'll discuss what to do with all of you later," Fowler spoke up, frowning at the newcomers. "For now, you should stay on the base until we can figure out what exactly it is that should be done about all of you. It's clear that you're all involved with the Autobots in some way -- whether direct or not. Morgen and Kate, I would like to talk to the two of you in private. Come up to my office."

With that, Fowler turned and started walking along the platform.

Morgen sighed. "All right. We'll be right up."


	8. Chapter 8

As Morgen and Kate disappeared up a ladder to the platform that ran around halfway up the warehouse walls, Miko, Jack, and Raf moved closer to Maria and the others with mixed looks of expectation and eagerness on their face.

"So, you got to meet the Justice League?" Jack asked, frowning. "All of them?"

"Well, a good number of them," Maria replied. "Batman was around a lot of the time. Nightwing actually worked with Matt a couple times."

Matthew winced at the memory and rubbed an arm absently. "Trying to train with him was a nightmare."

Raf, Miko, and Jack gawked at Matthew's statement.

"You trained with Nightwing?" Raf blinked with wide eyes. "How did you manage to keep up?"

"He didn't." Maria grinned at her older brother, who scowled in response. "And he already knew how _I_ fought, so Nightwing didn't go off against me."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, frowning.

"There's a certain game that's starting to get some attention." Maria winked at Miko. "A Super Smash Brothers game that involved characters from all over the place -- me included. Did you guys hear about it?"

"They started releasing trailers a couple of months ago," Raf piped up. "I think I saw a couple people wearing red armor, but I wasn't able to see a full person."

"That'd be me and Blues." Maria held up two fingers. "Maybe a couple other people. I had a match against Nightwing where I clobbered him -- even _after_ he got the Smash Ball. I had to go up against when he was in one of those planes that Batman keeps in his Cave. _While_ Loki and Thor were flying around as in-stage obstacles. Getting caught in the lightning from Mjollnir didn't do too well for him."

Miko snickered at the idea. "Oh, man. I _really_ wish that I could have seen that!"

"That can be arranged," Joshua responded. "From what I've heard, Maria has a recording of the entire tournament on DVD."

"Yup!" Collin confirmed. "It's the video game, too! I've played it on our PS3 -- it's really fun playing as my sister."

"Especially when she gets the Smash Ball," Liz added. "But it's just as fun seeing her get clobbered when the computer's in control."

Maria gained a scowling expression. "It wasn't fair, you guys pitting me up against Blues. He's seen a lot more than I have."

"So what happens when you get the Smash Ball?" Miko asked curiously.

"Volcano." Maria's scowl brightened into a wide grin. "I used about half that power in a Fire Blast earlier, but if I wanna go all the way, I call it a White Flare. It leaves me drained, but my opponent's usually in worse shape than I am."

"Usually?" Raf repeated. "You mean that there have been times when it hasn't worked out so well?"

"Recently." Matthew clapped a hand on his sister's shoulder. "She tried to go up against a Megatron in another universe and nearly killed herself. Twice."

"You did _what?"_ First Aid gained an alarmed expression.

"Why did you go after Megatron?" Arcee demanded. She looked over at Wildfire. "Do you have anything to say for yourself? You're her partner -- you should have been keeping her out of trouble."

"I was trying to," Wildfire shot back. "It's just that she didn't listen half the time. Probably because she thought I was a voice at the back of her head."

"It wasn't my fault you were there." Maria looked up at the Autobots. "Vector Prime put her there. I don't think I could pull something like that even if I wanted to."

"Vector Prime?" Bulkhead frowned. "You mean one of the Thirteen? How is that--"

"We haven't heard from the Thirteen since long before the war," Ultra Magnus interjected. "Why is it that he decided to reveal himself only to place you within the mind of a human?"

"You need not doubt her, Ultra Magnus," Optimus spoke up suddenly. "I saw the events that led to their being taken off Cybertron myself. Vector Prime simply asked that Jazz and I keep those events hidden."

"Jazz?" Khrista blinked for a moment before frowning. "Who's he?"

"He's the guy who found Mom, Dad, Matt, and me when we went to Cybertron." Maria nudged her friend, grinning. "His codename's Coolsville."

That got a number of eyerolls from the Autobots and a snicker from Miko. Optimus, on the other hand, had a far-away look in his optics, and his mouth twitched in such a way that it almost looked like he _wanted_ to smile, but was holding back.

"Yes, Jazz is very much the code name that you came up for him," Arcee remarked dryly. "I'm surprised Morgen didn't come up with more suggestions for him, unlike Ratchet."

"What did they came up with?" Miko looked like she wanted some juicy gossip -- which made Maria grin.

"Well--"

"Hey, Wrenchie! Any idea where we can get some food?"

Ratchet stiffened as his optics widened as Morgen and Katie appeared on the platform with Fowler, who looked like he was only a little satisfied.

Miko burst out laughing at Morgen's exclamation. "Wrenchie! Ha!"

"Dad noticed that Ratchet never liked to be far from his wrench and...." Maria trailed off, snickering as Miko started laughing even harder. Jack and Raf both exchanged amused glances, but didn't break out into loud laughter like their friend.

Ratchet let out a disgruntled noise. "Morgen, would you mind _not_ calling me that _ever_ again?"

Morgen snickered. "Sure, sure." A more serious expression came over his face. "Seriously, though, I'd kind of like to get some grub."

"I'll arrange for some takeout, Morgen." Fowler made a lazy waving motion, as though he was tired. "I'm also going to arrange for some sleeping quarters for the lot of you. You're at least going to stay the night while I settle a few things with the government. It's bad enough that we've got more kids involved, but humans that have super powers? It's like I stepped into some kid's comic book."

"That would be so cool though!" Miko exclaimed. "I wanna meet Batman!"

"Are you really sure you want to?" Matthew raised an eyebrow. "He isn't exactly someone who you can be friendly with right off the bat, you know." He paused. "Pun unintended."

Maria nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I didn't really think I was on friendly terms with him until I got back and told Mom and Dad about what had happened. It was more like a level of respect rather than a _friendship_. I don't think that anyone could ever be a _true_ friend with him right now."

Miko scowled at that while Matthew and Morgen nodded sagely in agreement.

"So, besides a world where the Autobots and Decepticons interacted with the Justice League, where else have you been?" Raf asked. "I mean, I've heard a few things about what you've done, but I'd kind of like to hear them from you guys."

"Mom and Dad still haven't told us where they've gone," Liz commented, looking up at their parents. "I'd kind of like to know what they went through, if you're asking us about what we did."

"I don't see why not," Morgen responded cheerily. "Then we can tell you guys about how we picked the code names for the Bots!"

"Don't leave out how they responded when they first saw us," Matthew called up. "Now that I'm really thinking about it, it was kind of funny what some of them thought of us."

Wildfire smirked a little. "You mean like how Optimus glitched from the shock of seeing four organics in the Hall of Records?"

"Glitched?" Jack repeated. "What's that?"

"The closest human term to 'glitching' would be fainting," Ratchet explained. "Our processors suffer an overload, and we are forced to shut down because we are unable to comprehend what exactly it is that we are seeing. One of our officers had such a heightened processor that he glitched if something was even the slightest bit incomprehensible. I doubt that he would be able to last for very long if he ever decided to peruse your internet."

Miko started to snicker at that. And it wasn't a very _nice_ snicker.

Morgen flinched. "Oh, boy. He's going to be in for a nasty surprise, then, considering how much stuff there is on the internet."

Maria and Joshua exchanged looks and nodded to each other in agreement.

"If Prowl were to arrive on this world, he would more than likely come into contact with your internet," Optimus admitted.

"Maaybe we should change the subject before we get into what's cycling around on the internet these days," Matthew stated carefully. "Like what's happened to us and you guys."

Miko gained a wide-eyed expression that clearly made it clear that she was more than eager in order to hear what it was that Matthew was suggesting. "How did you guys get your superpowers? Lab accident?"

Matt snorted. "Thankfully, no."

"Maria and I found out about them when we went to the Kingdom Hearts realm," Liz explained, smirking a little. "I didn't know I could shoot water from my sword until later, though."

"And I needed help from Lea in order to get control over my abilities," Maria admitted, ducking her head a little.

_ "Lucky! _ " Miko gained a pouting expression. "He and Riku are awesome!"

"The rest of us ended up getting them sometime after Cyrus in the Pokemon world decided that he was going to try and go after my sister," Matt added, smiling a little because of Miko's reaction. "She was the Trainer who had stopped him, so he kinda wanted revenge."

"I made sure he didn't get it, though," Khrista added, grinning. "Joshua, Ash Ketchum, Red, and I made sure that he wouldn't be able to mold the world as he wanted to, and then Maria picked us up and took us home."

"You weren't there for that?" Jack looked at Maria in surprise.

"I was kind of busy with MegaMan at the time," Maria admitted. "My becoming a Reploid happened at the exact same time that Cyrus decided to come out of hiding."

Jack blinked. "Oh."

"And Joshua?" Raf looked over at the other Reploid.

"My transformation happened a short time after that," Joshua replied. "It didn't happen on the same world, either."

"And you haven't had any adverse side-effects?" Nurse Darby asked somewhat worriedly.

"None." Joshua shook his head. "The process was...painful...but I haven't had anything negatively affect me since. Jolt would have noticed it and alerted me if that were true."

"That happened around the same time that Maria went off to that tournament," Khrista commented. "The Smash game that's coming out now."

Maria nodded, grinning. "Yeah. I got to fight side by side with Captain America!" The smile faded. "And things would have gone all right, too, if it weren't for the fact that Wily decided to sabotage the whole thing." When she saw the looks on the others faces, she waved them off. "I'll see if I can bring the video here later. I don't exactly feel like talking about it right now." She turned her attention to her parents, who were still standing on the platform above them. "Speaking of which, what about your stories? You've mentioned Scooby-Doo's world already."

"Yeah, I did say something about Shaggy's appetite," Morgen agreed, smiling somewhat sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head.

"Shaggy?" Miko frowned. "Who's he?"

Matthew cleared his throat, then let out a screech. _"Zoinks!"_

"Pretty good," Morgen commented, smirking. "Doesn't quite sound like him, but it's close enough."

"That doesn't tell me anything," Miko commented, scowling.

"Shaggy is a character from a cartoon that came out back in the 90s," Maria explained. "It's an old mystery cartoon about a bunch of teenagers and a talking dog traveling around in a van. Apparently, Dad got to hang out with them for a while, but I don't think that I've ever seen something that he's gotten involved in."

"We have a recording of it," Kate replied. "but we haven't let you see it. Mostly because there's a lot that's going on that would have completely terrified you."

Liz frowned at that. "Seriously?"

"There's a reason why we never let you watch the zombie movie that came out during the original series," Kate added.

"Zombie--" Maria's eyebrows shot up. "You were _there?_ Seriously?"

"That wasn't exactly fun," Morgen confirmed grimly. "I don't think that I want to go through that ever again."

"You actually got to meet zombies?" Miko asked in amazement. "Whoa."

"Maybe it would be a good idea if you got that movie so that I could have a look at it," Fowler remarked. "I happen to like watching old shows like that sometimes."

"Well, we're gonna need a VCR," Morgen remarked knowingly. "And I don't know whether or not the kids should see this."

"Well, if you don't want to talk about the whole 'zombie island' movie, what else did you guys do?" Jack asked.

Morgen and Kate looked at each other and grinned.

"Johnny Quest!" the two of them exclaimed together.

"Pardon?" Ratchet asked, frowning.

"It's a cartoon they used to show on Saturday mornings," Mrs. Darby explained, looking surprised. "I remember seeing commercials about it when I was a kid, but I never really thought to get into it."

"We have the box set," Khrista said, grinning.

"Not the one with our bonus features," Morgen called down in a taunting manner.

"Morgen, perhaps it would be far wiser if you explained the basics of your journeys, rather than just giving us hints," Sparkseer spoke up.

"Y-yeah," Smokescreen agreed, looking at Sparkseer in surprise. "A lot of this stuff sounds really weird...I mean, what's a 'zombie'?"

"It's somebody who was brought back from the dead and goes around looking for brains to eat!" Miko declared, grinning widely. "I think they're really cool!"

Ratchet made a huffing noise while Smokescreen looked a little nervous at the idea.

"You could say that the Dark Energon monsters you guys fought act a lot like zombies," Raf spoke up, adjusting his glasses.

"Dark Energon _monsters?"_ First Aid repeated, startled.

"Oh, yeah! You guys don't know about what happened!" Miko exclaimed, turning to look at Maria and the others. "When we first met the 'bots, Megatron was messing with Dark Energon to raise Cybertrons from the dead. Apparently, there were a lot of them scattered around the planet."

First Aid gained a worried expression. "Oh, dear...."

Morgen let out a coughing noise. "Kinda getting off-topic a bit here. And Sparkseer, you're probably right -- it's been a long time since I really thought about this stuff, though, so I'm going to hold off explaining what happened." His expression brightened. "We'll just bring over the movies instead the next time we get the chance! Sound good?"

"So long as we get the full story, that's just fine," Fowler responded in a snarky tone. "In the meantime, I know that my superiors are going to have my _head_ for bringing in this many civilians. Plus the fact that so many of you have superpowers...."

Maria bit the inside of her mouth and looked over at Joshua, who had a guarded expression on his face. "You don't think that they would want to experiment--"

"Considering our power and our allies, the government would probably want to word that as _observe_ rather than as _experiment,"_ Joshua replied thoughtfully. "Hopefully without forcing us away from our home or away from the others for prolonged amounts of time. I don't want them to gain access to my lab."

"I highly doubt that you kids are going to end up in any situation like what you're describing," Fowler said seriously. "This is nothing like those cartoons you saw when you were little. This is real life."

"I'd argue and say that MegaMan's world is real life too, but I get your point." Maria rolled her eyes at the government agent, who frowned in a disapproving manner. "So long as I don't meet anyone who wants to get into my head or tear me into pieces, I'm okay with them just _observing_."

Joshua, who did not miss the sarcastic comments made by his fellow Reploid, rolled his eyes in response to Maria's statement.

Ratchet made a noise that sounded like a human clearing his throat. "Speaking of which, I am curious about how your systems operate on a basic level. If you'll follow me into my medbay, I'd like to get a few scans so that I'll be able to have your signals registered as Autobot."

"I don't think that will be too much of a problem," Joshua spoke up, stepping forward.

"And we can make sure Coil is still doing well at the same time," First Aid added, looking down at the yellow mech. When she saw the nervous expression on the smaller Cybertronian's face, she said, "Don't worry about it, okay? It's not going to hurt."

Coil hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "I just don't want to get the wrench."

Maria looked up at Ratchet, smirking as the medic looked like he'd been a little hurt by Coil's statement. "I don't think we need to worry about that, since we're pretty small compared to everybody else that Ratchet looks after."

"What do you mean by that?" Liz looked over at her sister with a curious frown.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with now," Ratchet responded quickly while Matthew and Maria exchanged knowing looks. "Maria, Coil, Joshua, First Aid, if you would follow me to the medbay."

"Of course," First Aid responded with a nod. She looked down at the three smaller robotic figures with a raised optic ridge. "Well, we'd better not put this off any longer."

"Yeah," Maria agreed. She looked up at Ratchet. "Lead the way, Ratch."


	9. Chapter 9

While Ratchet and the others moved to one corner of the hangar -- where his medbay was most likely going to be located from now on -- the other humans and Autobots exchanged looks.

"So...what do we do now?" Liz asked.

"I've got a few things to iron out with the guys upstairs," Fowler responded, sending a stern look down at the teenage humans. "I hope that you kids don't do anything that could be considered reckless while I'm gone."

"Agent Fowler," Optimus spoke up, "I would appreciate it if you could procure for me a new Earth vehicle mode, if at all possible."

"I'll, ah, see what I can do, Prime." Fowler looked the buffed-up 'bot up and down. "Maybe a couple of the guys in our MASK division will have something for you. I'll make sure to check when I file my report."

With that, Fowler turned and walked off to his office, where he closed the door tightly behind him.

As soon as the agent was gone, Ultra Magnus turned to look at Optimus. "Sir, do you know of a location where I might be able to obtain a vehicle mode?"

"I am sure that some of the human soldiers would be more than willing to offer you suggestions if asked," Optimus responded calmly. "If I were to make a recommendation, I would suggest looking into the vehicle that is referred to as a semi."

Khrista blinked a couple times at that, frowning. "Hmm...I guess I could see him as one."

"If I may, Optimus, I happen to have scanned such a vehicle already," Sparkseer spoke up. "Ultra Magnus is more than welcome to scan that, if he wishes to."

Ultra Magnus considered that for a moment. "We can take care of that later, Sparkseer. I thank you for your offer."

Sparkseer gave a nod in response.

Miko clapped her hands together. "Okay! So, what are we going to do now?"

"I'd say we could play video games, but we lost those back in the base." Raf looked a little unhappy at that.

"We could probably fix _that_ problem," Liz spoke up. "We've got all our stuff back at home."

"That's back in the Midwest," Shape-Change responded. "We're in Nevada. The only way we'd be able to come here and be back in minutes is if we had a working Ground Bridge here." The shifter looked around the hanger. "And from what I see, it doesn't look like we have one at the moment."

"We had one previously, in our old base," Arcee spoke up. "Maybe we could salvage some of the parts."

"From that pile of scrap?" Ratchet demanded from the back of the hanger. He let out a snorting noise. "I find it very unlikely that anything of ours would have survived the blast very well." A moment later, he let out a yell of surprise: "What made you think to add _those_ to yourself?!"

"I wanted something to help me defend myself in close quarters!" Maria called back. "I got them installed safely."

"I can _see_ that, but that doesn't mean that it was wise to do so!"

"Ratchet, we're not like you," Joshua said evenly. "Do you really think we are going to have the same limits and problems that you will?"

"You have Sparks; that's good enough for me!"

Regardless of Maria's and Joshua's statements, Ratchet's words about the old base sobered the group up; Morgen and Katie exchanged looks that seemed to say something, but none of the teenagers were quite able to identify what emotion was on their faces. Optimus' optics sparked with something, but it was gone before anyone could see it.

"I know!" Miko turned to look at Khrista eagerly. "Why don't you guys show us what you can do?"

Khrista raised an eyebrow at the question and hedged a glance over at the others. "I dunno..."

"You walked through Ratchet's foot," Liz pointed out. She smirked a little, gripping the sword that had yet to disappear. "Besides, what else are we gonna do for entertainment?"

"She's got a point," Raf remarked. He looked up at the Autobots that were around them with a curious expression.

"Wildfire! Get over here!" Ratchet barked suddenly from the medbay corner. "And bring the rest of your little team with you!"

Wildfire scowled at Ratchet's exclamation, rolling her optics in an annoyed manner.

"And don't think I didn't see that!"

Wildfire's face scrunched up while Sparkseer and the others looked amused. The femme rolled her optics again and started for the back of the hanger with the rest of the group following after her.

Maria snickered as she walked between Arcee and Bulkhead and back into the main group, Joshua right behind her. "Ratch doesn't mess around if there's someone he hasn't checked up on in a while."

"You sound like you know that from experience," Arcee commented, raising an eyebrow at the Reploid.

"Well...." Maria trailed off for a moment, thinking back. A grin appeared on her face a moment later. "The one that was in the world with the Justice League definitely acted like that. I'm not surprised this Ratchet does, too."

There came another snorting noise from the back of the hangar, but no one was quite able to tell whether it was Wildfire or Ratchet who had made the noise.

"So, do we have anything planned?" Maria cocked her head to one side curiously.

Matthew shook his head. "We were trying to figure out what we could do when you came back. Video games and other electronic stuff isn't an option right now, since they lost all their stuff, and all our stuff is back at home."

Maria blinked a couple times, then gained a sheepish expression and rubbed the back of her head. "That is true, isn't it?"

"I want to see you guys use your powers," Miko insisted, her eyes bright and eager.

"I'd kind of like to see you guys show off a little, too," Smokescreen spoke up. When the others' eyes and optics moved towards him, he ducked his helm, looking embarrassed.

"I do admit, it is curious to know that there are humans who exist on this world who are more than capable of using abilities that have been attributed to a small number of the Cybertronian population, on account of certain frequencies in their Sparks." Optimus glanced over at Ratchet's corner of the hanger. "And that some of you share the abilities of those who have become your guardians."

"It is kinda weird, isn't it?" Liz looked over at her older siblings. "How'd that work?"

Maria shrugged helplessly. "Don't look at me. I only found out that I could do this stuff when I first World Jumped -- to Atlantis. You didn't know about the water thing until Cyrus started kidnapping people."

"So?" Liz frowned at her older sister.

"So, maybe it's a part of the whole 'being a World Jumper' thing." Maria shrugged again. "I don't know."

Meanwhile, high above the teenagers' heads, Morgen and Katie exchanged looks.

"What are their abilities again?" Kate prodded her husband. "Maria has fire, Collin has electricity, Liz has water--"

"And Matthew just got that aura stuff a while back," Morgen finished. "So, aura, fire, water, electricity....and Khrista is able to go through each of those 'Pokemon Types' that they keep going on about...maybe I should play a game myself...."

Katie frowned at Morgen, and he gave a sheepish shrug in response.

Maria, who hadn't heard her parents' conversation, let out a sigh, then smirked a little. "Well, I don't see why not. I haven't really been able to mess around too much with my powers yet." She raised her arms in front of her, gloved palms up, and then willed them to become covered in flames.

When Maria's arms were covered in flames up to her shoulders, Miko, Jack, and Raf all jumped in surprise, while Mrs. Darby looked somewhere between surprised and awed.

"Whoa...." Miko's eyes were wide.

"And it doesn't burn you?" Jack asked in surprise. He paused, then added quickly, "When you were human, I mean."

Maria shook her head. "It never has. I don't know why, but I'm not planning on complaining." She frowned a little. "Now, I haven't really experimented with this other than what I've done in a fight, but I could probably figure out some sort of...I dunno, fire show or something like that. Probably not right now, though." She lowered her arms, letting the fire dissipate.

"Looks just like when Wildfire used her abilities," Arcee noted. "I don't think it ever hurt her, either, but she didn't make it a point to use it all that often."

"I'm guessing that you have MegaMan's weapon, too?" Raf asked. "Since Dr. Light did...." He motioned to Maria's armor.

Maria blinked at the question, then nodded. "Yeah." She raised her right arm again, shifting it into her Buster before letting it shift back. "It can pack quite a punch if I charge up its shots, but those take time."

Raf nodded, understanding what Maria was saying. Miko, on the other hand, looked disappointed that she wasn't going to be able to see Maria demonstrate the weapon.

"I haven't done any fighting with my techniques yet," Matthew remarked. "At least, not much of it." He smirked as he held up one hand, causing a small ball of aura to flicker to life. "The first time I threw an Aura Sphere, I managed to dent Starscream's wing -- the alternate version from that other planet, not the one around here."

Miko snickered. "I wish I could have seen that!"

"Well, your alternate self was there, so that's going to have to be good enough." Matthew smirked a little as Miko sagged in disappointment. "I'm going to have to practice sometime, though, so I wouldn't mind if you ended up watching then."

"Just make sure that you keep a safe distance," Khrista added quickly, seeing the look that came over Miko's face. "Some of the stuff we can do can be...really destructive."

"I assume that you have used abilities for battle as well?" Optimus inquired, raising an optic ridge.

Khrista nodded. "Yeah. Raf said something about you being worried sometime earlier when people started disappearing in a certain area of the Midwest, right?" At Optimus' nod, she continued, "There was some interdimensional travel involved in that. Someone named Cyrus was looking for Maria and had managed to find this world, but Maria wasn't here at the time. So the guy on the other side decided to brainwash every single kid that he could get his hands on so that when Maria did come around, he'd have a little mini army to take her out."

"That was the same time that I got turned into a Reploid," Maria admitted, raising her hands as she ducked her head a little. "I wasn't able to come around and reverse the damage that had been done, but Khrista was able to take care of it."

"Only because of what I can do now." Khrista looked over at Maria with a serious look. "Otherwise, I'd probably have ended up brainwashed like your brothers."

Matthew held up his hands when Miko turned to look at him with an eager expression. "I hardly remember anything from when Cyrus had me under his control, and I was the one who was supposed to have been there the longest. I just remember the last battle that completely took down his tower, and everything that came after that."

Miko blinked a couple times at that. "Oh." A large grin came over her face. "But what was that like?! I've played the game, and I wanna know what you guys ended up doing! I just got to play as Khrista the whole time!"

"Then you pretty much know the whole story," Khrista pointed out. "They used me as their main force because of my powers."

"And what _can_ you do?" Bulkhead asked, frowning.

Khrista paused at the question, then closed one eye. A moment later, her shirt flashed, changing to a swirling mix of sky blue and gold. "I'm kinda like SC, but I can't change my shape. I can change what elemental Type I am, though." She did a slight hop, rising into the air and taking a couple lazy circles before she started into more elaborate patterns. "And there's eighteen different singular Pokemon Types altogether."

"Whoa...." Bulkhead looked amazed.

Wheeljack, who had been remaining silent so far, let out a whistle. "Not bad, kid. And you said you could be pretty destructive?"

Khrista paused, hovering in front of Wheeljack's face for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. I nearly destroyed a small island the last time I went off-world."

"What -- really?" Maria's eyes widened in surprise. "Since when?"

Khrista's expression became more subdued. "...I don't really want to talk about it right now. Let's just say that I ended up getting dragged into something and someone decided to see if they could pull a Wily on me." She looked at Maria with a darkened expression, causing the Reploid's eyes to widen in surprise.

"What does that mean?" Wheeljack's expression soured.

Arcee frowned. "Something tells me that those two kids have a lot more in common than they thought...."

"Well, traveling to other places and getting involved in stuff can get to be pretty dangerous," Liz remarked off-handedly. "I haven't gotten into as much stuff as they have, and I'm glad for that."

"I kind of want to go on an adventure," Collin commented. His blue eyes were alight with an eager expression. "It'd be really cool if I could go back to the Pokemon planet and actually hang out with my team and other Trainers! And I could use my powers, too!" He raised a hand, causing it to shoot off sparks.

Mrs. Darby's eyes widened when she saw the miniature light show. "You too?"

"Uh huh." Collin lowered his hand. "Everybody except for Mom and Dad has powers."

"My parents don't know how to do anything like I can, either," Khrista pointed out from where she was still hovering in the air. "And Joshua's parents -- my aunt and uncle -- definitely can't do what he can."

"It appears that your generation is made up of powers which are mostly similar to the Cybertronians who remained with you," Optimus noted.

Ultra Magnus didn't look like he knew what to make of the situation -- and he didn't look like he necessarily liked it, either. "Does this mean that other native life forms are going to start revealing strange abilities?"

Khrista snorted at the question. "They'd have to have gone to other dimensions like we have, and considering the chances of _that_ around here...yeah, we're going to be the only ones on this world. Probably."

"What do you mean by that?" Morgen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Someone on the last world I traveled to said that World Jumpers and their allies are few and far between." Khrista turned in the air to look at Morgen and Katie. "Since there are so many of us so close together, then we don't really have to worry about other groups popping up."

"It would be so cool if you had a rival team, though," Miko commented.

"I don't think so." Joshua approached the group. "Rival teams usually mean that there are other people who have gotten involved, and I highly doubt that Agent Fowler wants to see more people get involved with the war, what with how many of us there are already." He motioned around to the other humans who were present.

Optimus nodded in agreement. "I would rather not see more humans become involved, even if they were capable of 'holding their own' in battle."

"Speaking of battle, we kinda need to be filled in on what's happened." Jolt approached the group, followed by the others in Wildfire's group -- plus Ratchet. "Wildfire and Sparkseer may already know what's going on because they got to listen in through Maria and Matt on that other world, but some of us have been left out of the loop."

"I, too, would like to know how things have progressed in the war here," Ultra Magnus intoned.

The other Autobots and humans exchanged looks, then looked back at the relative newcomers.

"We should probably sit down somewhere," Mrs. Darby commented. "Something tells me this is going to take a while."

** Space Break **

Megatron was _not_ happy, and any of his subordinate officers would say that was an understatement. Knock Out didn't want to have to face his leader when he ran repairs, but there were just some things that were impossible to avoid.

Like Shockwave and Megatron talking on the bridge while Knock Out finished giving his leader repairs.

Megatron let out a low snarl. "Where did Optimus managed to find an upgrade for himself?! What would--" He gritted his denta in such a way that Knock Out flinched when he heard the screeching metal. "Knock Out! Did you check the armory and see if the Forge of Solus Prime was on board?"

Knock Out jumped at the question. "The forge? Ah...w-well--"

"Spit it out!"

"It was there when we came back with spoils from the Autobot's destroyed base, but it...might not be...there...now." Knock Out stepped away from Megatron, nervously clicking his digits together while Megatron's entire body stiffened. "I-I don't know how it could have gotten off the ship! I swear!"

Megatron let out a snarling noise. " _Optimus...."_

"My liege, there is something that I find much more interesting that I would like to discuss," Shockwave said, his one optic never wavering. He nodded to Soundwave, who pulled up what looked like a recording of the battle that had taken place early that cycle. "If you will watch here, when the Autobots first launched their attack, I noticed that there was something strange."

Megatron moved to a more preferable spot in front of the screen, his ever-present scowl deepening as the recording played. His optics widened as the recording continued to play. "Is that--"

"Wildfire, it seems, has finally made it to Earth and has joined with the Autobots, along with the other Cybertronians who she has remained in contact with." Shockwave put his servos behind his back. "I found it rather strange that she would appear now of all times."

"Indeed." Megatron eyed the red and orange femme. His optics narrowed a moment later. "Soundwave, pause."

"D-do you see something, my lord?" Knock Out asked as he came over to stand a little behind the Decepticon leader.

Megatron stepped forward and motioned to the paused recording. "Do you see that there, Shockwave?"

Shockwave stepped forward, leaning forward a little. "It does appear that there is something there, but I had been sure that it had been a trick of the light. What do you make of it, my liege?"

Megatron made a motion to Soundwave, who zoomed in the image and adjusted the resolution of the recording. When that was done, the Decepticons present looked at the result with mixed reactions.

"What is that?" Knock Out asked, frowning at the image. "It looks like some kind of...human?"

"Interesting." Shockwave looked over the image, leaning forward a little as though that would help him see better. "I was not aware that humans had this sort of technology. It appears to be battle armor of some kind."

"Soundwave, are there any other recorded images of this human?" Megatron looked over at his communications officer.

Soundwave's digits started flying over the keyboard, shrinking the size of the paused recording and pulling up a number of windows that were clearly from the human "Internet." Knock Out had gone there enough times to investigate car models and see what exactly the humans were up to in that regard, and he knew well enough that there were just some things about the Earth's version of the Grid that terrified him.

Like some "fans" would do to their fictional characters. Knock Out wasn't sure _what_ these fleshies were thinking when they would....

Knock Out's shudder went unnoticed by Megatron and the others as Soundwave pulled up a number of images on the bridge's monitor. All of them showed the same human, but the places that the human was in were rather...unusual as a whole.

"What is this?" Megatron growled.

_ "Video game character," _ Soundwave relayed. He went back to typing a moment later, pulling up what looked like a short video with a cartoonized version of the figure that had been at the battle.

_ "Hi. The name's Maria White, and I am a World Jumper." _

Knock Out snorted as Soundwave paused the video. "So they're mimicking some made-up fleshie? Why? Are they planning on scaring us or something?"

"If I may." Shockwave turned to look at Megatron. "There are ancient recordings on Cybertron of one or two mechs and femmes disappearing, only to return with strange stories of places that should not be existing. Such stories are only treated as myths and false stories. It seems that they might have someone who likes to pretend to be this very character. From what it appears, the human is capable of mimicking this...World Jumper."

Megatron inclined his helm at Shockwave's words, still looking at the images on the monitor. "Continue the recording, Soundwave."

The battle recording was brought back to full size and continued, still zoomed in on the human in the armor. Knock Out watched the girl flying around, dodging shots from the Vehicons while...answering back in kind with blasts from a cannon on her right arm. Then the cannon switched suddenly to a normal hand before--

"Primus!" Knock Out exclaimed when the human figure suddenly burst into flames. "Since when can humans do that?!"

_ "They don't," _ Soundwave responded in a dark voice -- no doubt taken from a recording of some human "movie."

Megatron raised an optic ridge, then looked over at Shockwave. "What do you make of that?"

"An interesting specimen," Shockwave commented. Even though his voice was as calculating as it usually was, there was something in it that made him sound...eager? "I would like to study it, but the probability of that occurring--"

"Can be greatly increased if we were to capture it," Megatron finished. "Soundwave, alert the Vehicon troops. If the Autobots are sighted in the future, and this human is with them, they are to attempt to capture the organic."

Soundwave gave a wordless nod, then set about doing so.

"Alive, preferably," Shockwave added. "I would like to see what the Autobots see in these organic creatures."

_ "Understood." _


	10. Chapter 10

Getting the entire story told took a couple hours, with Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Optimus taking turns for most of the events -- Raf acting as Bumblebee's interpreter for the most part. When it came time for what Maria had referred to as the "Orion Pax Incident," she explained what she knew of the _Nemesis_ after Arcee's failed attempt at finding the amnesic Prime. Jack explained what had happened to him at Vector Sigma, and then the group wrapped up what had happened afterward, covering a basic idea of what had happened with the different artifacts, as well as their run-ins with MECH and the eventual attempt to revitalize Cybertron.

"So there were artifacts here from Cybertron?" Liz asked, trying to wrap her head around the idea.

"Yeah." Arcee gave a grim nod. "And they were really hard to get our hands on, since the Cons were going after the exact same weapons. And if that wasn't enough, we had to deal with Arachnid for some of that time. At least the Immobilizer made sure she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and she isn't going to be sending her Insecticons after us."

Jack shuddered while Matthew looked like he wanted to gag. Wildfire also looked disgusted, while Jolt appeared somewhat shaken.

"Why is it that there are always those things hanging around?" Wildfire muttered. "I had enough of those Insecticons in the arenas in Kaon."

Wheeljack snorted. "Well, you're gonna hate it when we get back to Cybertron. Last I checked, those things were crawling all over the place and really giving us a hard time. Shockwave's been experimenting with them."

Jolt shuddered, causing his armor to rattle. Coil also looked nervous.

"So, what ended up here and what did the artifacts do?" Joshua asked cautiously.

** "The Spark Extractor basically acts like a bomb,"  ** Bumblebee said, relying on Raf to translate. **"Only, it pulls out your Spark and instantly kills you."**

Maria flinched, rubbing her chest. "That's a nasty thought."

"The Forge changed hands a few times." Smokescreen motioned to the yellow and blue hammer that was leaning against a wall of the hanger. "Now it's out of juice, though, so there really isn't all that much left that it can do other than whack things."

"And I ran into some Tox-En," Bulkhead admitted. "And the Insecticon Megatron sent to get it almost killed me after I got exposed to it."

"And then I killed it!" Miko declared proudly.

"Hey, if you didn't have access to the gun on my ship, that wouldn't have happened," Wheeljack pointed out.

"Tox-En, huh?" Wildfire frowned. "I haven't heard of _that_ before."

"If you _had_ heard of it, I should think that I would have been worried," Ratchet responded.

"I think I've have heard of it," Shape-Change spoke up suddenly. She looked over at Wildfire. "Do you remember when I went to Iacon before the war broke out? I think I remember reading something about a poisonous type of Energon that was hard to purify, and that it had been used in wars in the past." she frowned. "I'm not exactly sure as to what wars they were referring to, though."

Optimus, Bulkhead, and Ratchet exchanged knowing looks.

Maria frowned, cocking her head to one side. "Hmmm....Maybe it's something from ancient history?"

"If it was, maybe Optimus knows something about it." Wildfire sent a look in the Prime's direction, then frowned when she saw the odd expression on the Prime's face.

Optimus hesitated for a moment. "I believe that the Tox-En was used in the war we fought in order to force off our invaders. They also would have had need of Energon, and creating a false, poisonous replica would have certainly done damage to their systems."

Ratchet nodded gravely in agreement, causing Maria to frown.

"We also got the Star Saber!" Miko added with a large grin. "And that thing looked really awesome! It was like a light saber on steroids!"

"A what on what?" Smokescreen was confused.

Jack sighed and shook his head.

"Well, it does look really cool," Raf admitted, "but it is still a weapon."

"Sometimes, the most beautiful things are the most dangerous," Joshua said knowingly. "What about the other relics?"

"Well, there were four Omega Keys," Smokescreen said, counting them off on his digits. "We needed those to open the Omega Lock on Cybertron. And then there was that immobilizer, the Apex Armor -- which pretty much made the wearer invincible...." His expression brightened, and he raised an arm, where a wristwatch-like device was clinging to his wrist. "And the Phase Shifter!"

"There was that magnet we ended up finding," Arcee commented, looking up at Bulkhead.

Bulkhead groaned while Miko snickered.

"Soundwave got some kind of...sound blaster," Wheeljack remembered. A scowl appeared on his face moments later. "I think he's still got it."

"Considering that our original base was destroyed -- and most likely looted -- I believe that the relics we had in our possession previously have all been taken onto the _Nemesis,"_ Ratchet replied. "Thankfully, he no longer has the Spark Extractor in his possession, but there are other devices that could become just as dangerous if he decides to make use of them."

The humans exchanged grim looks at this.

"So, we're definitely going to have to be on our guard," Maria noted, nodding slightly.

"Sounds like it," Matthew agreed. "And those MECH guys...even if you guys haven't heard anything from them, it'd probably still be a good idea to keep an eye out for them."

"You got that right," Khrista agreed. "I'd hate to see them try and take a route like what happened to me with anything." Her shirt shimmered, as though tempted to shift out of the sky blue-and-gold swirl, but then the colors stilled, unchanging.

"Considering that they refer to themselves as MECH, I highly doubt that is going to occur," Sparkseer responded. "However, just the same, it is good to be cautious."

Jolt nodded. "I don't need another Shockwave, thanks."

"Now that we've covered what happened with us on Earth, what about you guys?" Miko turned and looked up at Wildfire and her group. "You guys have some pretty cool stories to tell, right?"

Wildfire exchanged looks with the others, raising an optic ridge. Before anyone could say a word, however, Ultra Magnus decided to make a noise that sounded like he was clearing his throat.

"As enlightening as it would be, I believe it might be wiser if we scouted the area to see if the Decepticons are already on the move after Darkmount's destruction," the lead Wrecker suggested. "Megatron may be planning on making his move as we speak."

That statement seemed to put all the war-experienced Autobots in the hanger on alert.

"But...what would he move to _do?_ " Morgen asked, frowning. "From what it sounds like, there aren't any more relics on Earth, and you guys have a new base -- basically." He motioned to the hanger. "So, at this point, he's probably going to be licking his wounds and thinking about how he could hunt us down and drive us out into the open."

Ultra Magnus turned sharply to give Morgen a piece of his mind, but then Optimus spoke up.

"This may be true; we have just destroyed Megatron's base of operations. It is more than likely that he is planning on taking in resources while recovering and planning his next objective. What that may be, I am not exactly sure of at this point in time, but we will have to stay on the alert until he makes his move." Optimus looked at the Autobots around him. "Arcee, Bulkhead, Shape-Change -- go and scout the area to ensure that there are no Vehicons nearby attempting to discover our location."

"Right." Arcee nodded, then transformed down into a motorcycle mode and drove out of the hanger. Maria and the others had to move out of the way so that Bulkhead and Shape-Change could follow after the two-wheeler.

As they left the hanger, Maria could have sworn that Shape-Change's sports car form shifted a little, but the femme was out of sight before anyone could really see what had happened.

"Ratchet, First Aid, I assume that the two of you have already begun to set up a temporary medbay?" Optimus inquired.

First Aid nodded.

"We will need more supplies, of course," Ratchet added. "I am going to have to replace the tools that I've lost with...human equivalents, of course. _And_ I am going to need to rebuild the Ground Bridge!"

"Sparkseer, Jolt, Smokescreen, Wheeljack." Optimus nodded to the Autobots in turn. "Go and see if it is safe to return to the original location of our base. Assess the damage and report back with information on what exactly is there that can be salvaged."

"Yes, sir!" Smokescreen responded with a wide grin.

"Optimus, I'd like to take Joshua with me," Jolt spoke up quickly. "He might be able to help with identifying parts that we can use -- we do have a lab back in the Midwest that's connected to an Energon mine. Maybe there's something we can still use there, even if everything else has been completely mangled."

Optimus frowned at that. "Is he capable of defending himself?"

"As I am a Reploid, I am equipped with the same Buster weapon that Maria has," Joshua responded with a respectful nod. "I am experimenting with other weapons, but I doubt that they're ready for field testing yet."

The Prime considered that. "As hesitant as I am, I doubt that the Decepticons will return to the site. If they do return, however, I expect you to be able to get Joshua to a safe location, Jolt."

"Understood." Jolt nodded.

"Hey, let's get going," Smokescreen said, looking like he wanted to jump from one foot to the other.

"Yeah, I agree with the kid," Wheeljack added. He transformed down into a sports car mode, then drove out of the hanger, followed closely by the other three.

"So, now what?" Liz asked.

"Now, we've gotta find something else to do." Miko sighed dramatically. "And that's not gonna be easy, since Bulkhead's gone...and so's my guitar."

"Guitar?" Matthew repeated. "You play?"

"Yeah!" Miko gave Matthew a bright grin. Meanwhile, Jack and Raf exchanged looks that seemed to say they were nervous about the idea. "I've been trying to get a band together, but these two can't really do anything."

"We've been trying to do something, but we haven't been able to get together to practice." Matthew looked over at Maria. "Between school and the whole 'World Jumping' thing, it makes it impossible to be able to meet up for very long."

Maria chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah...."

"Really?" Miko looked around with a wide grin on her face. "Do you think we could form a band? I've got a bunch of songs that I've wanted to play for a long time!"

"We're more of a group that does some of the classics than anything else," Matthew said with a sheepish expression. "When we've managed to do stuff like the Beatles, then we were thinking of moving to the more modern stuff. But then everyone split because we were so busy jumping around between worlds."

Miko gained a scowling expression at that. "Oh, all right. Guess everybody's gotta start somewhere."

"Glad you see it that way," Jack commented. He looked over at Maria curiously. "Do you have any idea what Joshua wants to do with the stuff that's left of the old base?"

Maria shook her head. "He's probably thinking about how he could repurpose some of the stuff that's there."

"He's done it before," Khrista commented. "Cyrus kept him in a cell in his citadel. It _used to_ have cameras in it, before he tore them to pieces." She grinned. "I still have the ear piece he gave me, and just looking at it makes me laugh sometimes when I remember how crazy Cyrus got with Darkrai messing with his head."

"I'm getting the feeling that Dusk enjoyed that," Maria commented dryly. "I haven't seen him in a while, so I don't know for certain."

"Are you two talking about the same person?" Coil asked, frowning.

Maria and Khrista exchanged looks at the question, then looked back at the mini Cybertronian and nodded.

"Dusk is a Pokemon," Maria explained. "The only people who know what his name is are a number of other Pokemon and certain Trainers -- me included. Everybody else refers to him by his species -- Darkrai."

"And those Pokemon are rather nasty ones," Khrista added. "Fall asleep near one, and they can cause instant nightmares if they feel like it." She grinned. "Perfect for when you want to get a message across to some idiots."

Maria nodded in agreement. "I remember what you told me about what happened to Cyrus."

"Maybe you should hold off talking about that until we have a Ground Bridge up and running," Wildfire suggested. "This kind of thing would probably be something that some people would be interested in knowing about." She looked over at Ultra Magnus. "And maybe we could get people you know to pop in...."

Maria looked at Wildfire curiously while Ultra Magnus frowned in disapproval. "You think so?"

"Well, I don't see why not, if it'd help with backing up your story."

"Are you certain that such a thing would be wise?" Optimus inquired.

"I had been thinking of relying on my memory in mirages," Maria responded. "I, uh...wasn't really thinking about calling my friends over. I mean, I _could,_ but considering all the craziness that can happen in other places when I'm not there, it'd probably be a good idea if I didn't."

Matthew and Khrista exchanged looks and nodded in agreement.

It was at this point that Fowler's office door opened, and the agent stepped out and came over to the platform that Morgen and Katie were still standing on. "Well, the higher-ups aren't exactly sure what to make of you guys getting involved, but it sounds like they've wanted to meet Khrista personally for a while now. Your cousin, too."

Khrista frowned at that. "Uh huh...not sure if I like the sound of that."

"Well, since I told them you're friends with a 'Bot already, they're probably going to be more agreeable." Fowler turned his attention to Morgen and Katie. "If you need anything, it's gonna take a bit for anything to get here. We can fly you back to get what you need, but you can't grab everything in your house."

Morgen gave a thumbs-up. "Gotcha. How long's it gonna be?"

"Well, it'll take a few hours to get a plane here, and you're probably not going to be seeing your place until sometime tomorrow."

"So long as we can get our stuff," Liz remarked. "So, what are we going to do until then?"

"I'm sure we can think of something," Maria responded thoughtfully.


	11. Chapter 11

Maria and the rest of her family jumped out of the helicopter as it landed in the clearing that had the _Harbinger._ Or, at least, what was left of it.

"Whoa." Liz stared at the large crater where the Decepticon shuttle had been. "What happened?"

"It looks like the Decepticons found out we'd been hiding here," Joshua commented. He frowned. "It also looks like they'd decided to blow it up to make sure that no one'd be able to use it again. That's a shame -- we hadn't been able to completely remove all the parts for the Ground Bridge and look them over. At least Ratchet knows how they work."

"Yeah." Maria blinked a couple times, then shook her head and looked away from the crater. "We should probably head back to the house and grab our stuff. That's a pretty good distance away from here, though."

"You're good with waiting here for a couple hours tops, right?" Matthew looked in on the pilot of the helicopter.

The man gave them the "ok" sign. "Just make sure you get back here. I mean, you guys are kinda famous and all, but we don't want anything about those...big guys getting out."

"Right." Maria nodded in agreement, then turned and looked at the others. "So, how are we gonna get back to the house?"

"I can teleport," Khrista replied, her shirt shifting from dull red to a bright gold. "I can get us to the main street and back when we're ready."

"Cool." Morgen grinned. "Let's do it."

Khrista held out her hands. "You guys are going to need to grab on."

The others moved around Khrista, placing a hand on her shoulders and her arms. Each one felt a small tremor of energy at the same time that a flash seemed to come from Khrista's shirt.

One moment of disorientation later, and the group was standing out on the street in front of their homes.

"Whoa." Liz let go of Khrista's right arm, blinking a couple times. "That felt really weird."

"You get used to it," Maria responded absently, letting go of Khrista's left arm. She looked around for a moment before making a beeline for her house. "Let's get our stuff and meet back here!"

"Right." Khrista nodded in agreement as the others let go of her arms and shoulders. "And we don't need to grab too much."

"That depends on what you mean by 'too much',"Joshua commented. He turned and started jogging down the street. "We'll meet back here in an hour!"

"Sounds good!" Matthew gave Joshua's retreating form a thumbs-up before following after Maria.

Once the Carlsdales were inside their home, they split in different directions. Maria and Liz made their way upstairs to their room, then started opening drawers and grabbing different items.

"I definitely need to change my clothes," Liz declared. She shut the door to their room and started doing just that, grabbing a white shirt and purple jacket.

Maria dove into the closet and brought out a red backpack. "My stuff from Neo-Mobius is definitely coming with me -- especially my DS and games. Let's see...." She turned and opened her wardrobe, which didn't have her clothes anymore -- Maria couldn't exactly wear them over her armor. "I think I'll take only a couple books -- I want enough room in here for the DVDs...."

"Do you think Miko watches anime?"

Maria looked around an open door in her makeshift bookshelf, blinking at the question. "Uh...maybe? She _is_ from Japan. Why do you ask?" She disappeared from Liz's line of sight again and grabbed the thick "game guide" that had come with _Smash Worlds Tournament,_ then started stuffing it into her backpack.

Liz was standing in front of the small bookshelf that was in one corner of the room. "I was thinking about bringing a couple volumes with me. What do you think -- _Naruto_ or _Fullmetal Alchemist?"_

Maria frowned, closing the doors of the wardrobe and slinging the backpack over one shoulder. "Hmmm....I dunno; I haven't really watched that stuff. Which one's your favorite?"

Liz snorted at the question. " _Fullmetal,_ definitely." She started picking up volumes of the "backwards comics," as Maria had referred to them sometimes. As Liz started stuffing volumes into her purple satchel, she asked, "Hey, are you ever going to get into anime and manga? Some of this stuff is pretty good."

Maria cocked her head slightly to consider the question, then shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, what you've told me about some of those things are pretty cool, but there are a bunch of other things that I've been keeping up with." She grinned a little. "And catching up on. _Star Trek_ is pretty cool."

"Well, yeah, but I think you'd like some of the stuff that these guys come up with." Liz waved a volume of _Fullmetal Alchemist_ in the air, smirking.

There was a knock on the door. "Girls, it's your mother!"

"We're decent!" Liz called back.

Katie opened the door, coming in with a suitcase. "I figured you'd want at least a few changes of clothes. Maria, we've got all the DVDs and VCRs in a bag on the kitchen table -- including yours. I figured you'd want to keep tabs on them."

Maria nodded, smiling. "Yeah. Thanks."

"And thanks for the suitcase!" Liz grabbed the bag and dragged it over to where she kept her clothes before opening it up and starting to throw clothes inside. "I'm definitely going to need this stuff....Hey, Mom, how many days do you think I should pack for?"

"I'd probably say a week," Maria commented.

"That's what I was thinking," Katie confirmed.

"Kay." Liz looked over at Maria. "Now, are you planning on sticking around in here? Because you should probably go downstairs if you don't need to grab anything else."

Maria blinked at the statement, then glanced back at the wardrobe of books before frowning a little. "Hmmm...I don't think I need anything else at the moment...so I'll probably be fine." She looked up at Katie. "I'll wait in the kitchen for you guys to get ready, kay Mom?"

Katie gave a nod, then moved out of the doorway so that Maria could slip out and head downstairs, red backpack over one armored shoulder.

When Maria arrived downstairs, she found that there wasn't anyone else waiting at the kitchen table -- considering that she had seen her parents and siblings in their respective bedrooms on the way down, she figured that they were still trying to get their stuff together.

_ I kinda wish that Joshua had shown me that "item disappearing trick" that he was doing before we attacked Darkmount, _ the Reploid thought to herself as she tried to adjust her backpack's position on her left shoulder. _It doesn't feel right to have this bumping against my hoverboard when it's compact and attached to my back like this._

Maria let out a sigh and slipped the backpack off her shoulder, letting it drop onto one of the kitchen chairs. Then she noticed the large, black duffel that was sitting on the kitchen table, and her interest spiked. "Hmm? Oh, that must be where Mom and Dad put all the DVDs and cassettes. I wonder what Mom and Dad ended up running into..."

Just as Maria was reaching for the zipper on the duffel, she was startled when she heard a voice.

"You're going to have to wait to look in there until we get back to the Autobots and get everything set up," Morgen said as he came in with a suitcase of his own. Setting it down on the kitchen floor, he looked at Maria with an amused expression while his daughter gained a sheepish one. "I know you've been bugging us about it for a while, but I know that you can wait for just a little bit longer."

Maria gained a slight scowling expression, but then let out another sigh. "Yeah, you're probably right about that. It's just...I want to see what you guys have done. I know you're World Jumpers, but--"

"You want to know how long we did it," Morgen guessed. When he saw the look on his daughter's face, he let out a chuckle. "You're pretty much an open book, Maria."

"How am I an open book to you?" Maria frowned.

"I know a few tricks," Morgen responded off-handedly.

After Morgen had come down, it didn't take too long before Matthew and the others joined them in the kitchen with everything that they figured they'd like to have with them -- at least for the first few days.

"We should probably head out and see if Khrista and Joshua are ready yet," Matt remarked when Collin finally managed to drag his suitcase down the stairs. "Think we got everything?"

"I think so." Maria gave a one-shoulder shrug as she pulled her backpack up onto her left shoulder again, then grabbed the black duffel bag. Even with taking her Reploid body into account, she still had difficulty lifting it. "Dad, what'd you put in here? Our entire movie library?"

"Nah." Morgen smirked. "The PS3 is in there, though."

"Why?" Liz raised an eyebrow.

"I figured the kids would like to play through that Smash game once they finished watching it."

Maria blinked, then smirked and let out a chuckle. "I'd like to see them try and beat one of us at it." She hefted the duffle with a grunt, grabbing the handles with both hands. "All right. Let's get going."

The Carsldales stepped out of the house in single file with some jostling because of all the bags they were carrying with them. As soon as Morgen was done locking the front door behind them, Joshua and Khrista came running up the street, a slightly panicked look on the latter's face.

"Grab on and let's go!" Khrista exclaimed quickly, motioning for the Carlsdales to come over.

"What's going on?" Collin asked in confusion as the family came over.

"Her parents are being their usual protective selves," Joshua responded. He didn't necessarily look panicked, but there was something about the way his voice sounded that suggested he wasn't exactly calm, either.

"Oh." Katie stepped forward and planted a hand on Khrista's left shoulder. "Well? What are you all waiting for?"

Everyone else scrambled over with their baggage and took hold of Khrista's arms and shoulders again. When the flash came this time, Maria thought for a moment that she could see Khrista's parents out of the corner of her eye, but her view of things was completely replaced by the forest, the helicopter, and the remains of the _Harbinger._

As Maria and the others stepped back from Khrista and started towards the helicopter, where the pilot was sitting in the open doorway with an expression of muted surprise on his face. He blinked a couple times before he rose to his feet and started helping the group haul themselves and their luggage into the helicopter.

"This is it?" The pilot looked at Morgen with a serious look.

Morgen gave a nod. "Yup. Hopefully, when they get the Ground Bridge up and running, we can make regular runs home without having to worry about stuff like this." He patted the pile of suitcases.

"Yeah. That'd make my job a lot easier." The pilot gave a dry grin before closing the helicopter's side door and jumping into the driver's seat. "We wouldn't have to make trips like this all the time, then!"

Maria smiled at the pilot's comment and probably would have added something had the helicopter not started up with a loud roar before jolting up into the air.

"Let's get back to that airport," the pilot commented. "Then we'll send you back on your way and you can join your buddies."

"Yeah," Matthew agreed. He grinned. "I can't wait to see the look on Miko's face when she sees the stuff in there." He motioned to the black duffel at Maria's feet.

"I want to see what Mom and Dad put in there from what they can remember," Maria countered. "But yeah, when they see what the rest of us did..." She grinned. "That's definitely going to be interesting."

** Time Break **

When the group returned to Nevada after a few hours flight (and a few minutes of army personnel rifling through their luggage to make sure they weren't carrying anything _too_ suspicious), the hanger that the Autobots were using as their replacement base was being to look more like a base and less like a hanger.

"Hey, guys!" Maria called out as they stepped into the base. "We're back! And we brought some stuff!"

Miko and the others turned when they heard Maria's call, the exchange student gaining a bright grin.

"Hey! About time you guys got back!" Miko held up what looked like a slice of pizza. "You're just in time for dinner!"

"Awesome!" Collin dropped his suitcase and ran over to where the group was sitting at a large table. "I was getting really hungry!"

Maria chuckled as she gently lowered the duffel before placing her backpack next to it; the others followed suit. "Yeah, it obviously wasn't first class, was it?"

"So, what'd you guys get?" Raf asked as the group joined them and started grabbing slices for their own dinner.

"Basic things we needed to live," Matt responded. "Y'know, clothes, bathroom stuff, books..." He smirked knowingly. "Movies and a few games. That kind of thing."

"I was thinking a little more about what I could use in the technological sense," Joshua commented, reaching behind him and pulling out a large duffel. "But I did grab a few other things." He dropped the duffel by the others before turning and looking at something that the Autobots were clearly setting up in the back of the hanger. "Jolt, I brought the parts we were looking for!"

"Great!" Jolt's voice came from somewhere underneath what looked like a giant computer dashboard. "Bring them on over here. We'll start working on that as soon as I'm done here."

Joshua moved into the back of the base while the others watched in confusion. When he started pulling what looked like machine parts from behind his back, the others' confusion only increased.

"How is he _doing_ that?" Jack asked in surprise.

"You know how to access your subspace?" Ratchet asked, looking down at the blue Reploid with an expression of surprise.

"Subspace?" Raf repeated. "What's that?"

Jolt came out from underneath the dashboard and rose to his feet. "A subspace is basically a pocket dimension. Every Cybertronian's got one, but not all of them really feel like using one. I told Joshua about it, and he figured out how to get into his on his own, so I guess it's not just Cybertronians who can have one."

"Cool!" Miko exclaimed. "Does that mean I could carry my guitar and stuff with me everywhere I go and not need Bulkhead to do that for me?"

"If you can figure out how to get into it," Joshua responded.

"I definitely need to figure that out," Maria muttered. She took a large bite out of the sausage pizza slice in her hand. "Carrying my backpack like that just felt _weird_ with my hoverboard sharing space on my back."

"Your what?" Raf asked in surprise.

"You have a hoverboard?!" Miko looked like she was practically drooling. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?!"

Maria looked over at the two of them with a blank expression, blinking a couple times. "...Because I didn't really think that I needed to? It's not exactly important, is it? Besides, you already saw it before we went after Darkmount, remember?"

"I still wanna see it!" Miko insisted. "And ride it, too!"

"I'm trying to eat dinner here!" Maria held up the pizza piece in her hand and shook it a little. "Can't this wait until later?"

Miko gained a pouting expression and sat back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest in a rather annoyed manner.

Raf frowned and cocked his head to one side. "Um...you're technically a robot, right? So, doesn't that mean you don't _have_ to eat?"

Maria paused mid-bite into the pizza, blinking before swallowing the rest of the slice. "Yes and no. When I eat this stuff, it gets turned straight into energy that helps top me off. I keep up the habit, but I don't really need to rely on it all that much." She smirked. "And it's not just this kind of food that can keep me going, either. The last world I was on -- the one with the alternate versions of you guys -- let me find out that I can run on Energon if I wanted to, too."

That cued a spluttering noise from the listening-in Ratchet. _"What?!_ "

"How did you figure that out?" First Aid asked, blinking. "I didn't think it was possible for a Reploid."

Maria shrugged, then grabbed another slice. "I guess it is."

"We only found out about it because Maria used up all her energy and nearly killed herself," Matthew pointed out, sending his sister a dark look. "Twice."

"Brainiac was mind-controlling Megatron, and I panicked!" Maria looked over at her older brother with wide eyes while the others looked down at her with mixed expressions. "Of course I was gonna fight back with everything I had! I didn't want to end up mind control fodder again! It was kind of a spur-on-the-moment thing!"

"Hey -- calm down!" Jack held up his hands. "We're not blaming you for anything."

"Yeah," Liz agreed. "I'd probably have done the same thing if I was there."

"Although, you probably should have trained a little more with pushing that energy cap," Joshua commented, coming over. "Then you might have been a little better off."

"What are you talking about?" Miko asked, frowning in confusion.

Maria sighed and ran a hand down her face. "You guys remember how I said that I can go off like a volcano sometimes?" When the others nodded -- some with a knowing expression, others with an eager one -- she explained, "That's a move I like to call 'White Flare.' It takes a lot of energy to use, so I haven't done it very often. When I went up against, well... _him,_ I pushed myself past my normal limit. Hitting 125 Percent is pretty much my last resort right now."

"Then it would probably be best if you didn't use it," Ratchet commented matter-of-factly.

"But if she's going to get stronger, then she's going to have to."

Maria turned and looked at Khrista with an incredulous expression. "What?"

"You need to get stronger, right?" Khrista pressed. "Then you're going to have to learn to master stronger and stronger moves. Pushing yourself beyond what you normally do might up your level somehow."

Maria frowned at that, her mouth tightening into a straight line.

"We should probably think about that later," Morgen commented, getting the kids' attention. "We've got other stuff to do, right? Like finding a place somewhere in here to sleep and hang out until that Ground Bridge gets fixed."

The others looked at each other at Morgen's comment; Miko gained a wide grin on her face.

"I want to see what you guys've done!" Miko declared.

"I am kind of curious about that," Jack agreed.

Morgen laughed. "All right, then! Just point us to where the TV is, and we'll start setting up!" He pulled the black duffel bag out of the pile of luggage they had brought with them. "Who do you want to see first? Mine? Katie's? Maria's?"

"Let's start with your daughter's," Fowler suggested, looking at Maria with an insistent expression.

Maria blinked a couple times at that. "Uh...sure? We're going to have to start with the first one." She got up from her seat and looked over at Morgen. "You remember which one it is, right?"

Morgen grinned as he pulled out a DVD. "Director's Edition."

** Time Break **

Unfortunately, there was only enough time that day to get through Maria's (and, surprisingly for most of those present) and Liz's first adventure off-world.

Miko pouted unhappily as the credits rolled on _Treasure Planet._ "You guys are _so_ lucky! I wish I could do something like that!"

Maria chuckled at Miko's statement. "Well, I dunno if you would really want to...I mean, there are a lot of things that could happen -- and some of them could be pretty bad...."

"Well, Disney's got some fun stuff! They've got the Avengers now!"

Maria frowned. "Still extremely dangerous."

"I find it difficult to believe that such things are capable of occurring," Ultra Magnus stated, frowning at the large-screen TV that Fowler had brought in.

"Perhaps this belief is what has made travel such as this a rare sight," Optimus commented thoughtfully. He frowned. "The 'Heartless' and 'Dream Eaters,' however, are worrysome. If Megatron were to come into contact with them, not only would he be consumed, but we would have a very difficult war on our hands."

Arcee nodded in agreement. "They don't look like they'll let us shoot them down easily."

"I don't think they could ever show up here." Liz paused when everyone looked over at her. After a moment, she continued, "From what it sounds like, each different world Maria and the rest of us have gone to kept their problems in their own worlds."

"For the most part," Maria responded. "A small number of Heartless _did_ leak onto Neo-Mobius for a short time, and Tails and Kintobor came to help me out when I became a Reploid. Otherwise, the worlds do seem to keep a hold on their own trouble -- like they can't get out and bother other places unless there's a rip in the dimensional walls somewhere...." The Reploid trailed off, frowning.

"Are you suggesting that there might be rips in space between worlds?" Wheeljack raised an optic ridge.

"I dunno...." Maria's frown deepened. "It would definitely explain the Heartless on Neo-Mobius, at least. Tails and Kintobor created a one-way portal in order to get to me, but that probably just opened and closed an access point to one of the Lanes Between -- natural portals between dimensions. They're certainly smart enough to be able to find one."

"Lanes Between are capable of being accessed, if you have the correct equipment," Joshua agreed. "However, they take a large amount of energy to open, if you are not a World Jumper who is meant to be capable of traveling between worlds."

"Are you suggesting that you are the only ones capable here to open ways to other dimensions?" Optimus asked.

Maria nodded, then paused. "Well...I think so?"

"It's not something that I have yet been able to look into," Joshua added.

"There are a lot of things that have been left as secrets in the multiverse," Morgen said. "I think this counts as one of those times we need to leave it a secret."

"Why?" Ratchet eyed Mr. Carlsdale in a curious manner. "Surely you're curious."

Morgen and Katie exchanged looks at the question.

"When we went to Jonny Quest's world, there was a scientist there who was trying to figure out the multiverse theory," Morgen explained. "He was the first guy there who tried to come up with it, actually."

"He found out about us when we were helping Jonny hunt down his father, Dr. Benton Quest," Katie added. "When he tried to figure out what exactly made the portals work and where the Lanes Between had originally come from, he disappeared in a deadly explosion that destroyed everything mechanical in his lab. We think he got pulled into the multiverse somewhere."

Maria and her siblings exchanged looks at that.

"So, experimenting with interdimensional forces is a bad thing," Khrista noted. She frowned. "Then I'd like to figure out how Cyrus managed to get that thing working...."

"Warp Rings, probably," Maria replied. "He had Finitivus as Charon working under him, remember?"

Khrista blinked, then scowled. "Oh. Yeah."

"Who?" Bulkhead asked.

"Cyrus is the main villain in a Pokemon region called Sinnoh," Matthew explained. "He's also the guy who was doing all the kidnapping from our neighborhood a while back."

"Charon _was_ his head scientist," Maria added. "They've been caught, though, so we don't have to worry about them."

"Who caught them?"

"The Zone Cops." Maria shrugged, smiling a little. "Khrista and I knocked the two of them around, then handed them over."

"Zone Cops?" Optimus sounded even more curious than he had sounded previously.

"A group of counterparts for everyone across the multiverse who try to keep things in balance," Morgen explained. "If anyone ends up doing anything that could upset the balance of not only their universe, but others, then they get involved in order to do something about it."

Maria nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And all their names start with 'Z.' My counterpart, for example, is probably named Zaria. I haven't been able to meet anyone who I could call a counterpart, though, so I don't really know for sure."

Optimus blinked for a moment, absorbing that statement for a moment. "Intriguing. I had not considered that there would be a force keeping the multiverse in balance beyond the World Jumpers."

"Well, we can't be everywhere at once," Katie pointed out. "And we have our own lives to lead, as well."

"If there is a force keeping the world in balance, then why is it that you humans are getting involved?" Ultra Magnus asked, frowning. "It seems counterproductive -- especially when there is a high chance that you will make the situation far worse."

The World Jumpers exchanged looks, Maria and Joshua looking at each other with slight frowns.

"That question would probably have to be asked of the first World Jumper," Morgen said finally.

"The _first_ World Jumper?" Maria repeated in surprise, looking up at her father.

"Do you know this being?" Optimus asked.

Morgen shook his head. "Not directly, no, but there are rumors that go around. Some people have claimed all sorts of things about the first World Jumper -- no one knows what gender the person was -- or even if the person _had_ a gender -- or even what sorts of abilities the World Jumper had. No one even knows what his or her name was."

Maria blinked a couple times when she heard that, wondering how exactly her dad had heard that. "Huh. I wonder if we'll ever get to meet him. Or her."

"That's probably not going to happen," Katie responded. "The Multiverse has been around for thousands of years, you know."

"Indeed," Optimus agreed. "For now, we will simply have to learn as you continue to travel between worlds; perhaps we will understand everything that is required of World Jumpers in the future."

"Hopefully," Joshua agreed. "I find it extremely frustrating that I can't understand everything that we come across."

"Don't we all," Maria responded dryly.


	12. Chapter 12

When the group woke up the next morning, they found that someone had decided to leave a couple surprises along with the TV, DVD, VCR, and PS3 that had been there the night before.

"Is that a PS4?" Matthew asked in surprise when he saw the video game system. "I've been hoping to get my hands on one of those for the past year! Where did this come from?"

Fowler looked amused, oddly enough. "What? I can't do a nice thing every once in a while?"

"Hey! You got a MegaMan game!" Miko raised it up in the air and waved it around. "And it's got Maria on the cover!"'

The Reploid froze that that exclamation, eyes widening. "A what with a _what_?"

Jack snatched the game from Miko's grip and looked at the cover with a raised eyebrow. "Huh. Looks it's that game about how you got the whole...armored thing." He looked over at Maria with a curious look. "You guys didn't bring this with you, did you?"

Maria shook her head, a strange expression on her face. "No way. We never picked up the games -- except for _Smash Worlds Tournament,_ which hasn't really come out--"

"And my game," Khrista added. "Which I got shipped to my house a few days before it was released worldwide."

Morgen looked over at Fowler and raised an eyebrow. "Is there a reason why you decided to get that one? My daughter did tell you what happened to her when she was there."

The government agent paused for a moment. "I just thought it might be a good idea to get the whole story."

Maria frowned a little, rubbing at her chest in almost an absent manner. "There are some things that I don't know about -- like how Blues and Rock got away after...." She trailed off, clenching her fist. "I might watch people play, but I don't think I'm going to give it a try myself. Living through it once was more than enough."

Wildfire, who was sitting with her back to one side of the hanger, let out a grunt in agreement. "Yeah. I'm glad he didn't have his hold on you for longer than he did." She looked over at Optimus and rose to her feet. "Well, what's the plan today? I'm definitely not planning on sitting around and doing nothing."

"Well, there's not really all that much you can do," Ratchet responded, looking up from his work on the computer system that was starting together. "Considering that we haven't heard anything from the Decepticons -- plus the Ground Bridge isn't entirely operational yet. I'm afraid you're just going to have to find something _non-lethal_ to do in the meantime."

The expression that came over Wildfire's face was more than enough to show how she felt about _that_ particular idea.

"We're not going to get any attention from anyone our size, are we?" Matthew asked, frowning at Fowler. "You said something about people wanting to have a look at some of us."

The agent nodded. "I was about to bring that up. They're in the hanger next door waiting for me to bring you kids over. They're going to want to interview your parents, too."

Morgen and Katie exchanged looks at that, then looked back at Fowler.

"Something tells me this is going to be as bad as that one time we ended up getting dragged into an intergalactic mess," Morgen commented cryptically in an annoyed tone. He took in a breath and let out a sigh, looking like he wasn't exactly relaxed or tense. "All right. May as well get this over with."

Fowler gave a nod in response. "All right. I'll start with you two --" He pointed to Mr. and Mrs. Carlsdale "--before I let them loose on your kids."

Katie gave a nod in response. "Lead the way."

As Fowler led Katie and Morgen out of the hanger, Maria exchanged looks with the other humans and Cybertronians who weren't trying to get the computer system online. "Well, what now?"

"I vote for video games!" Miko declared, waving a hand in the air. "I wanna try that Smash game you guys brought with you!"

Maria's expression brightened instantly while Liz burst out laughing.

"Allow us to clobber you, then!" Liz exclaimed. She made a beeline for the TV while the others ran after her.

"I call my character!" Maria called.

"No fair!" Liz barked back. "You do that all the time!"'

"Well, I know me best, what do you expect?!" Maria grinned widely as she and Liz sat down on the couch, grabbing the controls and sitting down next to each other.

"We can't do this without the game," Matthew called, coming up behind them with the others and waving the video game's case in the air. "You two should really know that by now."

Maria ducked her head as Matthew put the game in. "Oh, yeah...."

"You know, for a Reploid, you can be really forgetful sometimes," Liz said, jabbing her sister with an elbow.

Maria recovered from her embarrassment instantly. "I'm not a supercomputer! I've just got a lot of memory, that's all!"

Liz grinned as Matthew turned on the PS3. "Yeah, yeah."

**Time Break**

Maria stood behind the couch with a wide grin on her face as Miko, Jack, Raf, and Matthew mashed buttons and sent each other flying across the screen.

"Oooh! Smash Ball! Smash Ball!" Miko started making her character jump and shoot at the glowing ball that had suddenly appeared above their heads.  
            "Oh no, you don't!" Matthew leaned forward as his character -- armed with a beam sword right from the get-go -- lunged up and forward in order to knock Miko away from the Smash Ball. "It's time for the call of the Joes!"

Liz roared with laughter as the Smash Ball broke, causing a large number of Sniper Joes from the MegaMan series to appear and shoot at Maria, Captain America, and Sonic like some futuristic firing squad. Cap put his shield in front of him, causing bullets to bounce back, but the others didn't have those defenses and were instead completely blown off the battlefield.

"And that is why I am never going to challenge Blues to a Smash fight," Maria said, pointing at the screen as Cap lowered his shield and the Reploid and hedgehog jumped off their hovering platforms.

"No fair!" Miko exclaimed, glaring at Matthew. "I wanted to try White Flare!"

"You've gotta get it before the rest of us do, then," Matthew responded.

"I'm just glad I remembered about my shield," Raf remarked. He pressed down on one of the buttons on his Playstation controller, causing the character on the screen to throw his shield at Blues, knocking Matthew' character in the chest.

"Definitely planning on trying Superman next time," Jack muttered as he caused Sonic to leap over the ensuing fight before slamming down.

"He's not indestructible," Maria spoke up. "Just a higher resistance to some attacks. And Batman _can_ pull out Kryptonite if Superman's nearby."

"How do you know?" Miko glanced back for a moment, but then had to look back at the TV quickly to make sure that Matthew didn't end up pushing her off.

"We had a Superman vs. Batman fight," Collin responded. "The game claimed they tied."

Miko scowled. "That's not fair!"

"Tell me about it," Liz snorted.

Khrista, who had been paging through the game guide Maria had brought with her, looked up and suggested, "Maybe they did it on purpose."

Joshua, who was standing next to his cousin as she perched on the platform's railing, nodded in agreement. "Both heroes are formidable in their own ways, and they might have wanted to show the two of them on equal footing."

A blaring noise came from the TV as the fight ended abruptly, causing the scores to appear over the battlefield -- a generic Smash Stadium -- and start to add up.

Khrista closed the game guide. "There's something else I've noticed in here that I didn't really look into before, either. It looks like Superman made a note of it -- the DC universe hasn't had any sort of 'civil war' like the Marvel one has. It's almost like their universe is a lot more stable when it comes to friendly relations between heroes."

The others exchanged looks at that with somewhat blank expressions. Maria's own eyebrows shot up as she blinked a couple times.

"Hey! Kids!"

Maria, Collin, Liz, Khrista and Joshua turned when they heard Fowler's call, while Matthew's fists shot up in the air as Blues -- or, ProtoMan -- appeared on the screen as the winner of the match, with Raf and Captain America taking a close second.

"What's up?" Khrista leaned back, not afraid of falling off the railing because her Flying-Type abilities were active.

"The boys in the hanger next door want to meet you superpowered kids." Fowler jabbed a thumb at the open hanger door as Morgen and Katie walked over to the stairs that led up to the platform that the kids happened to be on. "They wanted to get started before lunch."

Matthew let out a sigh and held up his controller. "Who wants to take over?"

Morgen came up the stairs at a jogging pace and snatched the controller out of his son's grip, grinning. "All right. Who wants a thrashing?"

Matthew grinned at his father's question while Miko stared at him in surprise.

"Be careful, all right?" Katie looked at each of her children, Joshua, and Khrista. "These people may not be like those in...other places, but it still pays to be cautious."

"Got it, Mom." Maria gave her mother a smile and a nod before launching herself over the side of the railing -- causing Ratchet, who happened to look up from his work right then, to let out a yell of alarm. However, before the medic could get close enough to catch the Reploid, the square, battery pack-like device on her back detached and unfolded, flying under her feet as Maria landed on it.

"Whoa!" Miko scrambled to the edge of the railing and looked down as Maria and her hoverboard came down to the ground while Matthew, Liz, and Collin took the stairs. "That looked so cool!"'

"Don't try it unless you have a hoverboard and have armor that can protect you if you end up missing," Maria called up with a suddenly serious gaze. "The only reason I can do it is because I'm in sync with mine, thanks to Gear."

"Who?" Bulkhead asked, confused.

"Alternate dimension teen with superbrains or something," Wildfire called back. "If we had him here, he'd probably be able to put the Ground Bridge together pretty quickly."

Ratchet huffed. "That I doubt."

"You haven't met him," Maria reminded the medic as Khrista lowered herself to the ground in a slow hover.

"Joshua, are you coming down here or not?" Khrista demanded, looking up at her cousin.

Joshua gripped the railing, a slight frown on his face. Then, in a single motion, he swung himself over the edge of the railing and started falling to the ground. A few feet before he would have slammed into the concrete, however, Maria heard a familiar hissing noise as Joshua's descent slowed before he came to a stop, then dropped the short distance to the floor.

"Well, the jets work," Joshua commented, looking down at his blue, metal boots.

"Unless you are _intent_ on giving me a Spark attack, I _insist_ that you _refrain_ from doing anything like what you just did!" Ratchet barked. "It could prove to be extremely damaging to your systems over time!"

"They're not human, Ratchet," Jolt pointed out. "Trust me on this -- Joshua's done worse when it comes to testing his limits. A jump off a platform at chest-level for most of us isn't going to kill them."

Ratchet looked at Jolt with an incredulous expression. "You can't be serious."

"I'll tell you the parameters of my tests later," Joshua informed the Autobot medic calmly. "In the meantime, I'll give the humans who have come to meet us heart attacks, which I'm sure are the equivalent to Spark attacks."

The smile that came over Joshua's face made Khrista burst out laughing.

Fowler let out a sigh that turned into a groan as he ran a hand over his face. "Are you going to make this even more difficult than it already has to be? Because I would not like to have to calm by superiors down about the idea that you kids might be trying to work against us or something."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Liz responded in a snarky tone as she started for the hanger doors. "Come on, guys! Let's see what these guys want to do to us!"

Khrista let out a groan as she and the others followed. " _Please_ don't word it that way."

"Yeah," Maria agreed. "I've had enough of _that_ to last a lifetime."

Fowler led the group of six kids from the hanger that the Autobots had claimed and into another one that was a short distance away. The route left the group in full view of the rest of the area, and their eyes moved all over the place as they saw men and women in military uniform running around from one place to another. A few people looked in their direction, but they didn't point or really do anything to draw too much attention to the kids with the superpowers.

The kids exchanged looks as they reached the entrance of the hanger and Fowler stopped and turned to look at them.

"All right, you six. In there are going to be a bunch of science-minded nerds who are probably going to ask you a lot of questions and do a bunch of tests on you." Fowler looked at each one of them in turn. "Try to cooperate as best you can, and if you need any help with anything, don't be afraid to say something."

That said, Fowler stepped to one side and motioned for the group to step inside.


	13. Chapter 13

When the group stepped inside the hanger, Maria found herself suddenly face-to-face a man with uncombed hair and wide eyes behind a pair of safety glasses that practically screamed "nerd."

"You really _do_ look like the girl in those video games that have been coming out," the man commented, his gray eyes looking over Maria's armor. "Wow. I don't think I've seen armor quite like _this_ before...." He grabbed Maria's right arm. "Does it come Buster-equipped?"

Maria yanked her arm out of the man's grip, frowning disapprovingly at him. "Do you mind? I don't happen to _like_ being manhandled."

"And if you want to talk about _our_ armor, I would be more than willing to provide a second opinion," Joshua added, stepping towards the man with one hand held out. "My name is Joshua Langstrom. You are...?"

"Dr. Samuel Merger." The man accepted the handshake, looking over Joshua's armor with a critical eye. "How did the both of you manage to replicate the Reploid armor design using real metal?"

Maria and Joshua exchanged looks at the question.

"Sir, we didn't make these ourselves," Maria said, looking back at the man -- who she clearly saw now as a scientist of some kind, considering the lab coat he was wearing. "You _are_ aware of what the video games with me as the main character show, right?"

Dr. Merger blinked a couple times at that, then frowned. "I refuse to believe that it is possible for anyone to be able to cross dimensions -- it's just not done."

"You mean like how aliens don't exist?" Joshua asked dryly, raising an eyebrow.

"Exa--" Dr. Merger cut himself off and gave Joshua a harsh look. "Are you suggesting that, because aliens exist, you can cross dimensions?"

"World Jump," Maria corrected. "And I wouldn't say that the two are connected." She eyed Joshua with a raised eyebrow. "And as for the armor, Dr. Light built this entire body for me when I was nearly killed by MetalMan when I went to their world."

"And I was forcibly transformed on an alternate version of Sonic the Hedgehog's world," Joshua added. "Considering that you are aware of transforming alien, robotic beings, what we're telling you isn't as farfetched as it would have once seemed."

"I'll be the judge of that." Dr. Merger adjusted his safety glasses. "First, I'd like some proof that what you're saying is true. Since your armor is extremely similar to what is usually only seen in video games, I'd like to see if there is proof in your claim that you really are what you claim to be." He paused. "And I'd also like to have a look at your armor to see if I can recognize what metals its made out of."

Joshua rolled his eyes and flicked his left wrist. There came a hissing noise, and the armor on his left arm popped open suddenly, revealing wiring and circuitry, rather than a normal arm.

Maria smirked a little at Dr. Merger's slightly widened eyes. Then she did the same with her own left arm, revealing not only the wiring and circuitry, but also a hidden, curved blade.

Joshua noticed. "You added that recently."

Maria looked down at her own arm and blinked a couple times before smiling in an almost fond manner. "Yeah. I was thinking about some close combat options, and Gear gave me some help adding it. I've got one in my other arm, too."

Dr. Merger looked absolutely flabbergasted as he stared at what was hidden under Maria's and Joshua's armor. "Incredible...so they _weren't_ lying when they said that...." He looked up from the exposed circuitry and at Maria's and Joshua's faces. "And that is how it is under all of your armor."

Joshua and Maria nodded as they closed their armor, hiding their inner workings from view.

"Incredible...." Dr. Merger adjusted his safety glasses. "And you say that you were transformed into this?"

"Him, yes, me, no." Maria had something of a grim, yet humored look on her face. "Dr. Light _transferred_ me into this body to save my life. He doesn't have the technology to transform organics to metallics like what happened to my neighbor." She motioned to Joshua.

"I see." Dr. Merger pulled out a small notebook from a pocket on his clipboard and started writing rapidly. "And, if you are who you claim to be, ah...." He looked up at Maria. "That character in the video games."

"Either way, my name is still Maria," Maria pointed out.

"I am aware of that. We _did_ run background checks on your families as soon as we got the chance." Dr. Merger made a huffing noise. "Don't think that we are _not_ informed."

"Do you have any other questions for us regarding our armor or our abilities?" Joshua asked respectfully.

"Let's start with your weapons," Merger responded. There was a strange, eager gleam in his eye that seemed to say that he had been looking forward to this all day. "The shooting range is right over here." He motioned to a sectioned off area of the warehouse, where targets had been set up a short distance behind a low-lying wall.

Maria and Joshua exchanged looks when they saw the expression on Merger's face.

_ ::Don't show him everything that you can do with a Buster or otherwise:: _ Joshua suggested over their private comm.

_ ::I was thinking the same thing:: _ Maria replied. Then she motioned with her head and started towards the shooting range while her right arm started glowing and shifted, becoming her Buster. Joshua followed suit.

** Space Break -- Change in POV **

"So, you claim that you can change your abilities to adapt to most situations?" the woman in front of Khrista raised an eyebrow, looking up from the clipboard she was holding in one hand.

Khrista had a somewhat dark look on her face as she folded her arms across her chest. "More like I know. Which Type do you want to get started with?"

The woman frowned. "Type?"

Khrista's eyes became lidded, morphing her face into a deadpan expression. "Pokemon Type. You know, Fire, Ice, Electricity? Which one do you want me to start with?"

The woman blinked, then looked back down at her clipboard and started writing. "You can choose whichever one you want to start with."

That was all Khrista needed to hear; her shirt shifted from dull red to bright gold instantly. A moment later there was a bright flash as she disappeared from sight and reappeared behind the woman.

Khrista smirked a little as the woman looked up from her clipboard and started to look around with what appeared to be a tenseness in her shoulders. "That was a Teleport."

The woman turned sharply when she heard Khrista's voice behind her, an alarmed expression coming over her face when she saw that the teenager was now standing right behind her.

_ "I can also use telepathy, make you fall asleep, and do a bunch of other things to mess with your head." _ Khrista's smirk widened into a grin. _"Psychic-Types can do physical damage, too, if you push them far enough, but I'm not going to demonstrate."_

Khrista took a step back, her shirt shifting from gold to a dark purple. "Next, Ghost-Types."

She was about to launch into another play of tricks with the woman to scare her even further when a loud shriek suddenly erupted from one side of the warehouse.

_ "What in the name of Chaos do you think you're doing?!" _ Maria roared, turning sharply and glaring at a figure in a lab coat. Her left hand was against the back of her neck, while her Buster was up and pointing at the man. The way she was standing suggested that she was willing to fire, but it also looked like she was ready to back up and run.

The man was clearly startled by Maria's sudden movement, and he held up both his hands, dropping something from one of them.

The others in the room stopped what they were doing -- Liz froze, her sword stuck in a dummy; Collin's hair stopped sparking; Matthew's hands stopped glowing blue -- and looked over at Joshua, Maria, and the other figure.

Khrista shifted to a Ghost/Psychic combo and Teleported across the warehouse to stand next to Joshua. "What happened?" Her voice came out sounding strained.

"This guy tried to stick _something_ in the port in the back of my neck," Maria responded through gritted teeth. "I reacted."

"Or, perhaps, the _Protocol_ reacted," Joshua corrected. He walked over to the man's feet and picked up the device -- now that Khrista was close enough, she saw that it was, in fact, a USB drive. "Which means that he was likely trying to upload something that wasn't something you wanted."

Maria rubbed the back of her neck, still looking unhappy. "As far as I know, it only reacts if someone messes with my personality. I don't know whether _that_ was meant to change or delete parts, but I definitely don't want it stuck in me again."

Khrista turned and looked at the man. "What were you trying to do to Maria?"

The man -- who had been looking nervous before -- certainly didn't look like he wanted to confront three angry teenagers. He stuttered over his words as Joshua pulled out what looked like a suped-up GameBoy of some kind and plugged the USB into a port. It only took him a moment to say anything.

"...It looks like this was meant to be something to copy programs." Joshua looked up. "I can't completely translate it at first glance, but it looks like whoever wrote this program wanted a copy of one of us to look over us more closely."

Maria blinked in surprise. "What? Why?" She looked back and forth between the scientist and Joshua. "It's not going to be that easy to replicate a Reploid -- especially considering that I used to be human."

"And then there's going to be the fact of noticing the difference between you and whatever clones he'd have wanted to make," Joshua added dryly, looking back down at the screen. "It looks like it might have come away with something from you, but you caught it soon enough that it couldn't get away with all of it."

Maria scowled and rubbed the back of her neck. "What do these people want with me? I'm not an object. _Dummkopfs._ " Her scowl deepened. "And my _Autobot partner_ would agree."

"Care to tell us what exactly it is that you were planning, Dr. Merger?" Joshua asked, turning his attention away from the suped-up GameBoy.

The man scowled. "Why would I decide to tell a bunch of kids about--"

_ Zap! _

Maria lowered her Buster arm, eyes narrow as she watched the man collapse onto the ground.

"Maria!" Liz exclaimed in alarm.

"I just stunned him," Maria replied, letting her Buster shift back to her normal hand. "He'll just be out of it for a while. I thought it would be a better idea than just letting him run out."

Khrista looked at her neighbor with a guarded expression, noticing that Maria had a look in her that kind of made it look like she had been on the front lines -- not that Khrista knew what that was like, but she could guess, considering what she had done in the past.

It was at that point that a blue sports car came skidding into the warehouse and transformed into Jolt, turning and skidding a little so that he could come to a stop before he hit anyone. The woman who had been interviewing Khrista -- and the people who had been talking to Liz, Collin, and Matthew -- all looked up in surprise when the Autobot came to a stop, then walked over to where Joshua, Maria, and Khrista were standing over the knocked out man.

"What in the name of Uncle Sam is going on here?!" Fowler demanded as he came stomping into the warehouse. He paused a moment later when he saw that there was someone lying on the ground, clearly KO'd.

"This guy decided he wanted to mess with my head!" Maria responded, pointing at the knocked-out man on the floor.

"Dr. Samuel Merger doesn't seem to be quite as he seems," Joshua quipped. He held up his device. "He was trying to copy Maria's program data for an unknown reason. He's merely knocked out now; don't worry. You can still attempt to get information out of him."

Fowler reached the group, a deep scowl on his face as he looked down at Dr. Merger.

Jolt held out a servo. "Joshua do you mind if I--"

"Not at all." Joshua handed over the GameBoy, which Jolt held delicately between his digits as he frowned at the small screen. Khrista watched the large Autobot with a curious expression, wondering if he would have been able to read anything that was on the screen at all.

"This definitely looks like a copying program of some kind," Jolt finally remarked. "I'm not familiar with the computer language that's being used here, though...." He frowned. "It looks like there's some kind of signature here...MECH?"

Fowler stiffened, eyes widening. "You can't be _serious!_ They're _still_ running after that Nemesis Prime junk?!" He turned and started for the entrance of the warehouse, shouting about getting some people in here to grab the man and drag him off somewhere.

The woman Khrista had been talking to a moment ago came over to look the group over, moving quickly around Jolt in case the Autobot decided to move without warning. She looked down at Dr. Merger, then back up at Maria and the others.

"This man...he tried to do what to you, exactly?" the woman asked carefully, looking at Maria.

Maria's eyes narrowed. "From what it sounds like, he wanted to make a copy of who I was. I don't know why, but if they came from MECH, they could have been planning on using that to do things to soil my name behind my back. I'm lucky that he didn't try to _rewrite_ who I was, but this could have been just as bad."

The woman frowned at that, not exactly sure how to respond.

"Miss, do you know anything about a video character named Maria White?" Matthew asked as he and the others joined the group.

"Video game character?" The woman turned and looked at Maria's older brother. "I've seen the trailers, but I can't say that I've ever been honestly interested in playing."

Matthew paused at that. "Let's just say that there's more that connects her and my sister than just the same appearance and first name."

** Time Break -- Change in POV **

Because of Dr. Merger's sudden actions against Maria, the others decided to back off and not do anything else with the two Reploids -- especially since Maria herself was still in a rather dark and slightly jumpy mood from getting caught by surprise by Merger. Fowler, of course, had made sure that Merger was taken somewhere else, muttering something about MECH, sleeper agents, and a possibility of them still planning on doing _something_ beyond "Project Chimera."

Maria, Joshua, and the others had remembered clearly what the Autobots had told them about MECH, and they weren't exactly looking forward to learning what the MECH agent had been doing there in the first place.

Matthew, in particular, was being extremely cautious now and had his Aura Sight on full blast in order to try and see if the others who were there to interview them had any similar intentions.

"Now, I understand you're the oldest, and yet you weren't the first one to travel to other worlds," the young man commented, looking at Matthew curiously. "Is there any particular reason why you think that is?"

Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really think there's anything _wrong_ with it. I mean, the first time I went anywhere ended up being when I got brainwashed by Cyrus -- y'know, that Pokemon villain."

The man blinked in surprise, his sky blue aura sparking a little. "Seriously? I played that when it came out. That was your first-time off world?"

"Yup." Matthew rubbed the back of his head, looking somewhat sheepish. Then he blinked and snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah! I didn't get to go off-world before Maria because we didn't know we could do that stuff yet. Plus, she kinda got kidnapped with Liz, and that's what got everything started."

"Kidnapped?" The man blinked in surprise. "I wasn't aware of that."

"You wouldn't be. Maria didn't get any video games until the Capcom one, far as I know. She's been through that _Atlantis_ \-- you know, the Disney movie -- and the Pokemon world. And all that was before she got turned into a Reploid." Matthew had thought that this was common knowledge at this point, all things considered, so he didn't feel all that worries about talking about it.

"Really? Sounds like the rest of us have some catching up to do." The man quickly wrote on the clipboard he happened to be carrying. "I'm going to have to ask around you and your family members later if they can tell me what happened in more detail."

"Later, yeah...." Matthew glanced over at his sister, noticing that Maria was taking advantage of the small shooting range that had been set up. Her aura was still sparking like flames, which meant she was still agitated by what had happened. "It'll take her a while to calm down."

"I can tell." There came a chuckle from the man as Matthew looked back at him. "I've got sisters too, and that stance definitely says she doesn't really feel like talking right now. So, I'll have to ask you things instead." He tapped his chin with his pen. "Like...your powers. You said that you were 'basically a human Lucario', earlier. Mind elaborating?"

"What is there to say?" Matthew shrugged. "I can see the life source of things in different colors when I want to."

"Oh! Aura Sight!" The man started writing quickly, his aura sparking in what Matthew assumed was excitement. "Then you can tell how someone feels, right?"

"Well, I only just started to figure out what I can do, so I'm hoping to work with Sparkseer in order to figure out the extent of my abilities." Matthew rubbed the back of his head.

The man nodded, not looking up from his clipboard. "That makes sense." He paused. "Wait -- Sparkseer?"

"One of the Autobots we came here with. He's basically a metal version of Lucario." Matthew couldn't help but grin when the man in front of him started writing even more furiously.

"I'm definitely going to have to ask later if I can come back and study your ability in further detail," the man said, looking up at Matthew. He could definitely tell now that the man was excited and eager. "To have people here who are considered superheroes -- what's going to happen next? The Avengers are going to come to life?"

"I doubt it."

Matthew didn't jump when Joshua's lime green and cobalt aura appeared next to him; the man, however, jumped out of surprise.

"From what it looks like, certain franchises only appear on worlds where they do not exist as cartoons and things like that," Joshua explained. "Maria mentioned to us some time ago that she had come across some stories on another world that talked about characters that were similar to the Autobots and Decepticons, but she hadn't known that at the time because our world doesn't have any cartoons or books on them. We found out why later." He motioned his head towards the entrance of the hanger, where Jolt was sitting, still trying to pick apart the code that had nearly copied Maria.

The man blinked for a moment, then nodded a little. "That...makes sense, I suppose. So, that means that the other worlds you've been to could have information about what's going on here?"

"Probably." Joshua waved his hand in a "so-so" motion. "The chance of finding one that talks about this world exactly, however, might be pretty slim."

"Because of that whole 'multiverse' theory that's been going around." The man frowned. "Are you saying that the theory is true?"

"My cousin has told me that she's found an alternate version of the Pokemon universe." Joshua paused. "She hasn't said much else on the subject because of her own personal reasons, however."

The man considered that for a moment, then made a quick note on his clipboard. "I see...." He paused and looked around the warehouse, causing Matthew to glance around a bit, as well. "It doesn't look like anyone else is continuing -- not after what happened with your sister over there. We might have to continue this later."

Matthew put his hands in his pockets. "Yeah." He frowned a little, watching the man's aura for anything that might seem suspicious. When he didn't see anything that set off any alarm bells, he relaxed slightly. "When are you coming back?"

"That's gonna depend on our bosses." The man gave a wry smirk. "And what we can get out of those games you kids are a part of." He turned and started towards what looked like a work station, joining the other remaining people who had come to talk to the kids.

At the same time, there came a loud explosion from the shooting range, causing Matthew to turn around in surprise.

Maria stepped back from the large scorch mark that was now where one of the targets had been, breathing heavily as her Buster shifted back to a regular arm. Her aura wasn't sparking as much as it had been before -- in fact, it seemed to be more subdued than anything else.

Jolt looked up from what he had been doing and looked over at Maria with a slightly surprised expression, one optic ridge raised. "Feel better?"

Maria looked over and up at the Autobot, her breathing slowly returning to normal. After a moment, she gave a nod.

Jolt gave a nod in response. "Wildfire's waiting outside for you."

Maria's aura shifted, the fiery colors somehow managing to convey surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah. She said something about wanting to let off a little steam herself."

Maria blinked a couple times, then started for the main entrance of the hanger.

"Joshua, I think I've got this thing figured out," Jolt added, holding up the small GameBoy.

"What about the Ground Bridge?" Joshua asked, frowning.

"Raf and Ratchet have it pretty much figured out by now. They're going to start doing test runs soon." Jolt hid the device away in his subspace, then transformed down into his sports car mode. "Come on."

Joshua gave a nod in response, then turned and looked at Matthew. "I'll be seeing you later, then."

Matthew blinked at the statement, then gave a nod. "Yeah. See ya."

** Change in POV **

"Wildfire, what are we doing?" Maria asked tiredly as she looked out the window at the passing desert.

"Training," came the response from the hologram sitting in the driver's seat. "What did you think we were going to do? Sight-see?"

Maria looked at the not-really-there driver with an expression of surprise. "Training?"

Wildfire sighed irritably. "I've been doing nothing all day and I've got some energy to burn. And I figured it'd probably be a better idea if I just stepped out of the hanger for a while because I was probably going to get in Hatchet's way if I didn't."

Maria smirked a little at the medic's nickname. "How's the Ground Bridge coming, anyway?"

Wildfire snorted. "I'm no scientist; don't ask me. I think they're almost done with it, though."

Maria gave a slight nod in response to the statement, humming a little.

Wildfire's hologram drummed on the wheel for a bit -- at Joshua's and Jolt's suggestion, she and the others had added human actions to the holograms to make sure that they just weren't completely still all the time -- as they continued to drive through the desert. A moment later, Wildfire suddenly drove off the road and threw the passenger's side door open, effectively kicking Maria out as she transformed into her robot form.

"This looks like a good enough place," Wildfire commented, looking around the desert area.

Maria got up from where she had been thrown against the ground, brushing off the sand that tried to stay on her shoulders. "A good place for what, exactly? You said you wanted to do some training, but you didn't say with what."

Wildfire started rolling her shoulders, almost looking like she was trying to loosen the joints. "Going up against the Cons made me realize that I'd gotten rusty sitting at the back of your head for so long."

"And how am I going to help?" Maria put her hands on her hips. "I'm not as big as you, so I can't spar with you, if that's what you're thinking about."

"It's not that." Wildfire shook her helm.

"Well, then what is it?"

Wildfire paused, a scowl forming on her face. "I want...to be able to harness my own abilities a little more than I used to."

Maria blinked at that. "You mean...your fire powers?"

"Yeah." Wildfire moved her right arm in front of her and clenched her servo, causing a blade to suddenly eject from a section of armor above her wrist. It was covered in a burst of flames a moment later. "I've always used them as a last resort, but if Megartron isn't pulling out all the stops, I might have to up my game, too."

"So...what? You want me to show you a few moves or something?" Maria cocked her head to one side curiously. "Because I'm pretty sure you can come up with a few different things you can do on your own."

The fire on Wildfire's blade dissipated, and she retracted the weapon. "I'm not used to making fire projections -- like the Spheres you're always throwing around." She paused. "I have a few ideas for what I might be able to do, and I thought you might want to add your two cents about it."

Maria cocked her head to the side at that statement, then frowned a little and folded her arms across her chest. "You'd...be willing to ask me for help? I didn't think you were the type."

"Normally, no, but with the Decepticons bearing down on us like they did a few days ago, I've had to rethink my options." Wildfire gained an impatient expression. "So are you going to give me some help or not?"

"S-sure, I'll see what I can do." Maria uncrossed her arms, then held up one hand and brought a Fire Sphere into existence. "At least we won't have to work on teaching you how to summon fire in the first place, right?"

Wildfire smirked, remembering what she had seen from her temporary prison at the back of Maria's mind. "Definitely not."


	14. Project Predacon

The next day, the hanger the Autobots had claimed as their own was suddenly full of a lot more activity than it had been the last few days.

Maria, for one, was definitely glad for the change.

"Return trajectory fluctuations have been stabilized!" Raf reported over the noise of the Ground Bridge -- now operating without the frame that had been used in the previous base.

"Ultra Magnus, we are ready to receive you." Ratchet yanked down on a lever on the device in front of him, then turned to face the Ground Bridge as the aforementioned Autobot drove through in his brand-new Earth vehicle mode -- a semi similar to Sparkseer's own mode, and Optimus' old one.

Bumblebee picked up what looked like a steel box from the bed at the back of Magnus' vehicle mode, letting Magnus transform to his robot mode and walk forward.

"We didn't find much else in the rubble of the former base," Magnus explained. "Especially considering that what parts that could be used for the Ground Bridge had already been taken from there."

"You call this 'not much else'?" Wheeljack came through, grinning as he lifted up a large ball of what looked like different metal pieces that had been crushed together. He promptly spun and threw it at Bulkhead with a grunting yell, bouncing it off the green mech's chest and sending it careening for where Miko, Jack, and Matthew were standing in front of Fowler's office.

"Matt!" Maria jumped up onto her hoverboard and started to fly over from where she had been standing on the floor, but she was stopped out of surprise when a blue sphere of light and energy slammed into the ball of metal junk, sending it flying in a different direction.

"Watch it!" Matthew called, his hands sparking with blue energy for a moment before the energy faded.

Wildfire caught the metal ball in both servos, then looked down at it and raised an optic ridge. "A lobbing ball? I didn't think that you guys kept any of them around."

Maria let out a sigh of relief and lowered herself to the ground, then looked up at Wildfire with a curious expression. "A what now?"

"Wheeljack!" Ratchet barked, turning towards the Wrecker as he shut down the Ground Bridge. "You could have caused serious damage!"

"To me!" Miko added, putting her hands on her hips.

"If I hadn't been able to do that, either we would be squashed, or Fowler wouldn't be able to get out of his office," Matthew commented as the agent opened his office door.

"What in Sam Hill caused that racket?" Fowler demanded.

"What were you thinking, soldier?" Ultra Magnus demanded harshly, causing Wheeljack to turn in his direction. Meanwhile, Matthew, Jack, and Miko handled explaining to the agent what had nearly happened to his office door.

"I was _thinking_ that Bulk would catch that lob," Wheeljack replied, motioning to the green mech.

"Allow me to make myself clear." Magnus looked around the hanger. "As Optimus Prime's second in command, I have no intention of tolerating Wrecker behavior."

Maria raised an eyebrow at that, then exchanged looks with Khrista, who happened to be standing nearby. "Didn't they say...?"'

Khrista shrugged. "Something must've happened."

Wheeljack shook his helm. "Some things never change."

"Jackie...." Bulkhead's voice took on a warning tone.

Ultra Magnus straightened himself. "Need I remind you that it was Optimus Prime himself who assigned me to command you Wreckers back on Cybertron, and get you loose cannons under control? An effective combat unit begins with discipline. If you won't accept that, feel free to choose the path of least resistance." His optics narrowed. "As you did before."

Maria scowled at Magnus' words, looking up at Wildfire with a raised eyebrow. The femme responded with rolled optics and an expression that seemed to say that she was starting to get a headache.

"If my ship weren't a twisted wreck at present, I'd do that, _sir,"_ Wheeljack responded, optics narrowing at Ultra Magnus. That said, he turned and stomped off, leaving the others to look at the mostly-blue Autobot with mixed expressions -- mostly blank ones.

Ultra Magnus looked at the others for a moment, then let out a sigh. "So, any word from Optimus?"

"He's investigating recent Decepticon activity," Ratchet replied, turning to face the Wrecker commander. "Hopefully, an Energon mine, so that we can supplement what we already have -- and have access to from Jolt's and Joshua's supply."

"They should be back soon with Sparkseer and some of their supplies," Khrista spoke up, folding her arms across her chest.

"Hopefully, we won't have forced them to run it completely dry," Wildfire remarked. She placed the metal ball Wheeljack had brought back against the wall of the warehouse.

"Hey!" Miko ran down from the platform to the ground floor and looked up at the Bots. "Maybe they can make jet packs for you guys, like what Optimus has! That would be rad!"

"It might be 'rad,' as you put it," Ratchet replied as he sat down on what looked a makeshift berth near the computer station he had managed to set up. "But I highly doubt that he would have the resources to do such a thing. And even if you were to suggest we were to use the Forge, I should remind you that it has been depleted of its power to do that." He looked over his shoulder at the hammer, which was leaning against one of the many sets of stairs that led up to the platforms that ringed the warehouse.

"Now it's only good for pounding out dings," Bulkhead added.

There came a sudden screech of tires, and the group turned to look at the entrance to the warehouse, where a mostly-blue car with yellow stripes suddenly came skidding in, followed by a mostly-silver car with red and blue stripes.

The Autobots and humans present stiffened at little at the sight of the two cars; Maria started to shift into a defensive stance while Khrista's shirt shifted into a mix of bright gold and royal blue.

Arcee, Bulkhead, and Ratchet, who happened to be in front of the two cars, looked like they were about ready to fight.

"Smokescreen?" Arcee asked, eyeing the mostly-silver car.

In response, the blue one suddenly transformed, revealing the familiar face of the rookie. "Ah, what gave me away?"

"Wait a minute!" Bulkhead held up a servo, then pointed to the mostly-silver car. "If you're Smokescreen, then who's--"

The mostly-silver car then transformed...into a lookalike of Smokescreen.

"What? I can't find out I have a twin?" silver Smokescreen asked, looking amused.

Maria stared at the two mechs with wide eyes. "What the -- since when--"

Wheeljack burst out laughing as he joined the others. "Nice disguise there. You look just like the rookie."

The silver Smokescreen smirked, and then his entire form suddenly _blurred,_ revealing the mostly-gray form of Shape-Change. "I wanted to make sure my abilities were still in top shape, so I thought it would be a good idea to copy the rookie."

Everyone in the room stared at Shape-Change with expressions that were mostly shocked ones.

"H-how did--" Miko gaped. "How did you _do_ that?"

Morgen, who was sitting near Raf's workplace with Katie, let out a roar of laughter at the question.

Bulkhead slapped himself in the forehead. "Of course! SC's a shifter!"

"Shifter?" Raf repeated. "You mean like Makeshift?"

First Aid, who had been working on something over in one corner of the warehouse, looked up in alarm. "You know about Makeshift?"

"He tried to impersonate me when I first came to this mudball," Wheeljack responded, jabbing a thumb at his chest. "He's not going to be coming back anytime soon, believe me."

Shape-Change, who had stiffened a little at the name "Makeshift," relaxed a little. "Well, that's good. I'd hate to see him again."

"Do you...know him?" Jack frowned.

"I've met him, yes," Shape-Change responded, nodding. "I wasn't on friendly terms with him, however."

Wildfire snorted. "From what you told us, I didn't think you ever were."

There came a crackle of static from the Ground Bridge controls suddenly. _::Ratchet, this is Jolt. We're ready to come back now::_

Ratchet moved over to the controls and looked at the monitor that was there for a moment before nodding. "All right." He yanked down on the lever, activating the Ground Bridge again. "We're ready to receive you three."

At Ratchet's statement, Jolt came driving into the base, followed by Sparkseer's semi form, which was attached to what looked like a trailer.

"And where were you two, soldiers?" Ultra Magnus asked, frowning down at Smokescreen.

"Scanning new warpaint," Smokescreen replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Testing my abilities to make sure that they were still operational." Shape-Change met Magnus' gaze with a straight face.

"You I understand needing to leave the base, but you." Ultra Magnus looked down at Smokescreen with narrowed optics. "Why?"

"I thought it would be proactive to follow Optimus' lead," Smokescreen replied honestly. "And Bumblebee's." He motioned over to the black-and-yellow mech.

** "My lead?" ** Bumblebee repeated in surprise, pointing at himself.

"Well, now you can look your best stacking those empty cubes." Ultra Magnus nodded over to the pile of metal boxes that was in one corner of the warehouse. "We need to have that orderly if we are going to be able to transfer what Sparkseer, Jolt, and the...Reploid have brought back with them...into proper storage units."

Ultra Magnus' orders made Smokescreen's shoulders sag. "Yes, sir." He turned and walked off, muttering something.

Maria strained her ears in order to hear what the mech was saying, but she was only able to catch the last part of Smokescreen's statement.

"...Prime, but somehow I'm still a rookie."

Maria blinked at that. _What was Smokescreen talking about?_

"What was that about a Prime?" First Aid asked as Ratchet shut down the Ground Bridge.

Smokescreen turned in surprise when he heard the medic's voice. "Uh, I mean time. Time to stop acting like a rookie." Then he turned and reached the empty cubes.

Arcee watched him go. "Smokescreen was the only one who went back. If it weren't for him, Optimus might not be with us today."

"Arcee, we were under the strictest of orders," Ratchet pointed out as he moved to stand next to First Aid. "The three of you had your human partners to protect, and Wildfire and the others had yet to become involved. We are fortunate that Smokescreen is inexperienced enough not to have followed protocol."

** Time Break **

It took about half an hour for Optimus to return through the Ground Bridge, and when he did, he brought something with him.

"Optimus, did you find Energon?" Ratchet asked, turning away from his computer as the Autobot leader walked past him.

"No," Optimus replied grimly. "But I did uncover this." He placed an object down on a raised metal platform that First Aid had been using to make sure that they had tools to use for repairs.

The object that Optimus had brought with him brought out mixed reactions from the Autobots and humans present.

"It cannot be," Ratchet breathed, coming over to give the object a closer look.

"Be what?" Jack asked from where he, Collin, and Liz were standing on the platform near the Autobot-sized computer.

Maria, who was still on the floor of the warehouse, gained a curious frown as she activated her hoverboard. "What is it?"

Khrista's shirt shifted to sky blue, and she rose up, as well. "It looks like the fossilized head of some kind of bug monster."

"It is the ancient remains of a Predacon," Optimus corrected grimly.

"A Predacon?" Maria flew over and landed on the platform in order to give the skull a closer look, frowning. "What are those supposed to be?"

"Hey, can you get me up there?" Miko called up before Khrista landed on the platform. The girl looked down with a somewhat irritated expression, but complied anyway, grabbing Miko and pulling her up with her.

Ratchet walked around the skull as Miko and Khrista landed. "Though it remains unclear why such a skull would be found on your planet, its presence reveals all too much about the Predacon Megatron recently sent in pursuit of us."

"You mean that dragon bot you put on ice?" Miko turned away from the Predacon skull and looked up at Ratchet.

"That was a Predacon?" Maria frowned. "So, it's some kind of predator, then, from what it's name sounds like."

"That's my daughter," Morgen called down in approval. "Keep picking apart those words!"

"However, the problem is that Predacons have been extinct since...well...." Ratchet trailed off, frowning.

"Since most life began on Cybertron," Smokescreen spoke up.

"Or, at least, before the Cataclysm," Jolt spoke up. After he, Sparkseer, and Joshua had returned from their Energon hunt, Jolt and Joshua had set about setting up a small workshop in one corner of the hanger that had yet to be used. Maria wasn't sure what it was that they were planning on doing here.

"They're like Earth's dinosaurs," Raf commented, looking over the skull himself.

"Which means for you guys, running into one would be like us meeting a T-Rex," Jack remarked.

"So, then what were Dinobots?" Miko looked up at Bulkhead curiously.

"Totally different," the green mech responded.

"Dinobots?" Wildfire frowned. "I don't think I've heard of those...."

"Oh, yeah!" Wheeljack turned to face the femme. "You weren't there when Grimlock came back from that little rescue mission of his."

"Res--" Jolt cut himself off. "You mean he came _back_ from Shockwave's lab?!"

"Completely trashed it!" Wheeljack gave a wide grin. "They got new alts, too! Something about being copied from some monsters that ol' Frankenstein had found on an organic planet somewhere."

Jolt looked completely flabbergasted. "Seriously?! Wow!"

Maria cocked her head to one side and started to open her mouth to ask why Jolt was reacting like that, but then she saw the sharp look that was in Wildfire's optics and closed her mouth.

Ratchet gained a grim expression. "With Megatron's seeming new interest in the excavation of prehistoric skeletons, and a certain _scientist_ back among the Decepticon ranks...."

"It would stand to reason that Shockwave cloned the beast from one such find," Optimus finished grimly.

"And now Megatron's looking to clone another," Ultra Magnus added.

"Jurassic Park, anybody?" Khrista asked dryly. The comment got a nod in agreement from Maria.

"What makes you think Buckethead would stop at just one?" Wheeljack countered.

"We could have beast wars on our hands," Bulkhead realized.

"Only if we also had such beasts on our side would it be a real 'beast war'," Joshua spoke up, wagging a finger in a thoughtful manner. He frowned a little, looking over at Jolt with a raised eyebrow.

Optimus' optics narrowed somewhat at Joshua's statement, but he said nothing.

"We do not have the technology that the Decepticons do in order to create one," Ratchet countered. "And if Shockwave were to get a single strand of CNA from which to clone a beast--"

"He already possesses what he needs to engender this one," Optimus finished, nodding to the skull -- specifically, the side that seemed to be missing a horn. "Autobots, we must become beast hunters."

"One thing still doesn't follow," Smokescreen spoke up. "Predacons went extinct on _Cybertron._ So, what would their bones be doing here?"

"I might be able to shed some light on that."

Everyone turned and looked at Jolt, who wavered a little when all the eyes and optics in the room locked on him.

"Wh-when I was being...experimented on...I remember hearing some primal screams from somewhere in his lab," Jolt said, regaining confidence. "Maybe he was experimenting with creating Predacons then?"

"You were experimented on by Shockwave?" Arcee blinked in surprise, startled. "I never--"

"Heard about it?" Ratchet finished. "You weren't exactly _meant_ to, considering how troubling it is for Jolt to bring it up in the first place." He turned and started typing on the computer while the others gained mixed expressions. "If Shockwave _had_ been experimenting with Predacons while the war was on Cybertron, then there is a chance that some of these creatures were sent to Earth and other planets while Megatron searched for resources to continue his side of the war."

Maria turned her attention away from Jolt, and looked over at the monitor as Ratchet pulled up what appeared to be pictures of murals...with strange drawings of monsters involved in them.

"These are from our historical texts," Ratchet explained, turning away from the monitor.

Morgen moved in order to get a closer look. "Ratchet, are you sure about that? Because I know Earth history when I see it, and those things look like they came out of a myth from some ancient civilization somewhere."

Matthew leaned over the railing of the platform in order to get a closer look. "Yeah -- I think I see a griffon." He looked over at his dad, who nodded in agreement.

"It would stand to reason that Predacons did indeed walk upon this earth in ancient times," Optimus said, turning to face the humans in the hanger. "As they seem to have been the basis for much of humankind's folklore. Illustrating once again that the pasts of Earth and Cybertron are inextricably linked."

Maria frowned at that. "Pasts of...."

"He's talking about Unicron," Wildfire reminded the Reploid.

Maria's frown gained a more grim feel to it. "Oh, yeah. _That_ freak at the center of the planet."

The rest of the day had been spent with that grim statement hanging over their heads -- plus Jolt's admittance that he had been, at one point, experimented on by Shockwave. When pestered for questions, he'd refused to say anything other than, "Coil had to have come from _somewhere,_ didn't he?"


	15. Chapter 15

It was the early morning hours, and the humans (and Reploids) were sound asleep, and the Autobots in the hanger were, as well...except for Ultra Magnus, Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Jolt, and Joshua.

Optimus approached Ratchet, Jolt, and Joshua, eyeing the data they were looking over with a knowing optic. "Synthetic Energon?"

"Indeed." Ratchet looked away from the monitor that he and Jolt were looking at. "I am concerned that, if we were to lose access to any Energon reserves, our ability to deal with any impending crises will be severely hampered."

"A wise decision, old friend," Optimus replied.

"Just, please...manage your expectations." Ratchet motioned to the devices that Joshua and Jolt had gathered together in their corner of the hanger. "I am working with some extremely rudimentary hardware."

"Even with what Joshua and I have managed to put together, it's going to take some time to put this together," Jolt added, glancing up at the Prime. "Even if we do have someone back at our lab who might be able to help."

Before Optimus could ask Jolt what _that_ meant, a familiar voice caught his attention.

"Prime!"

The Autobots instantly reacted, rising to their feet and turning when they heard Fowler's call.

"Satellite surveillance just picked up two signs of Decepticon activity." Fowler held up two fingers. "One near an oil field outside of El Paso, the other near the Hibberty's Bluffs in Scotland."

Unnoticed by Fowler, a couple humans who had been sprawled all over the entertainment center started to groggily wake up and look around.

"So don't forget to pack your kilts."

That brought a snort from Wildfire, while Jolt, Shape-Change, and Sparkseer all gained amused expressions.

Optimus gave the group an odd look, then said, "We must divide our resources." He turned to face his second in command. "Ultra Magnus, you will lead your Wreckers to the bluffs."

"Yes, Optimus." Ultra Magnus paused, then moved closer to the Prime and asked, "What's a kilt?"

That particular question got a round of snickers from the human-sized entertainment center, getting Wildfire to look over in that direction. Upon seeing that Maria and Matthew were up -- and grinning like idiots -- she smirked back at them.

Any composure Wildfire and her teammates would have had was pretty much lost at Optimus' response to Magnus' question.

Optimus glanced back at Fowler for a moment, then leaned down a little. "Agent Fowler can at times be oblique. I find it best to simply nod and mobilize."

It was at this point that Maria and Matthew couldn't help it; they broke out into loud peals of laughter, getting the attention of Optimus, Fowler, and Magnus.

"And what, exactly, is it that you seem to find so funny?" Fowler asked, raising an eyebrow.

"One, Magnus doesn't know what a kilt is," Matthew responded, holding up a finger.

"Two, picturing him _wearing_ one!" Maria exclaimed.

That sent the two into another bout of laughter, much to Fowler's annoyance and Magnus' confusion.

Sparkseer sighed and shook his helm, smiling out of amusement at the siblings' actions. "A kilt is a human garment -- usually worn by the male of the species in Scotland. Essentially, it is a skirt, which is usually something attributed to the female of the human species."

Ratchet blinked a couple times before he let out a groan. "Thank Primus _those two_ are not with us on this planet...who knows what sorts of mischief they would wreck if they were aware of _that."_

_ That  _ particular statement seemed to have more of an effect on Magnus than Maria's and Matthew's laughter, and he turned quickly to face Wheeljack, Bulkhead, and Shape-Change. "Wreckers, let's roll."

Wheeljack groaned in response as Ultra Magnus turned his attention to the Forge.

Magnus turned and looked at Optimus. "Optimus, I know there are many emotions tied to the Forge."

"This is no time to stand on ceremony," Optimus responded, nodding slightly.

Magnus lifted up the hammer, holding it in both servos. "I would be honored to put this to some practical use."

Optimus nodded, then turned to face the others. "Bumblebee, Smokescreen, Jolt, you are coming with me to El Paso."

"Me, sir?" Jolt pointed at himself in surprise.

"Go on." Wildfire nudged the mech away from his work station. "You could do with some fresh air."

Jolt sent Wildfire a curious look, then sighed and shook his helm. "All right; I'll go. Joshua, think you can handle things?"

"Yeah." Joshua looked up at the mech. "You go on ahead. I'll be able to take care of things here."

Jolt nodded in response to Joshua's statement, then turned and looked at Optimus as the Wreckers left the hanger -- heading for Ultra Magnus' shuttle, no doubt. When the blue mech gave him a nod, Optimus turned and looked at Fowler. "The coordinates?"

"Don't worry, I got 'em." Fowler quickly gave Ratchet the coordinates, and the medic fed them into the Ground Bridge, activating the device.

Optimus promptly transformed into a large, armored truck of some kind and drove through the Ground Bridge, followed closely by Bumblebee, Smokescreen, and Jolt.

Ratchet shut down the Ground Bridge, then looked at the Autobots that remained -- plus the human-sized figures, who were starting to wake up.

"Morning," Jack said, yawning. "What's going on?"

"Optimus and Ultra Magnus just went out because a couple Con signals popped up," Matthew explained. He grinned. "Magnus is going to Scotland. Fowler told him to pack a kilt."

Maria started snickering again, and Morgen gained an extremely amused expression.

"Magnus? Wearing a kilt?" Morgen's eyes widened before he gained a wide grin. "Oh, man! I'd pay to see that!"

"Be glad the twins aren't here to hear you say that," Ratchet grumbled in response.

"Twins?" Raf repeated as he moved to sit in front of the computers Joshua had helped him set up. "There are twin Autobots?"

Sparkseer nodded. "Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. I suppose you could say that they're the unofficial 'morale officers' of the Autobots. And they're known for being quite the pranksters, as well."

"Don't let them anywhere near Miko," Jack declared.

"You have no idea how true that is," Katie responded, shaking her head. She turned to look at her elder daughter. "So, what do you have in mind today, then?"

Maria blinked at the question, then shrugged. "I don't know, really."

"Ratchet." Joshua stepped away from his workspace. "Is there anything in your historical texts on beings besides the Predacons? Maybe they had natural enemies."

Ratchet frowned at that. "Natural enemies? I can't say that I've thought to look into such creatures, but there might be a chance of it. Why do you ask?"

"I'm curious," Joshua replied simply.

Ratchet frowned at the statement, then turned to the computer system. "Well, the Predacons weren't the only beasts that were spoken of in the ancient texts. I think I recall something about beings being found after the Cataclysm that were capable of intelligent thought."

Wildfire and the others watched the monitor as it showed more murals like the Predacons from yesterday -- except these murals didn't show monsters from Greek mythology -- at least, not monsters in the Predacon sense.

"Those...look like regular animals," Jack commented, frowning.

"Is that a mammoth?" Raf asked, adjusting his glasses with a curious expression.

Maria noticed that Joshua's eyes seemed to be locked on what looked like a rhino in one corner of the monitor. "Joshua?"

The blue and green-armored Reploid looked up at Maria. "Yes?"

"What made you think of that, anyway?"

Joshua paused. "Well, I had thought that, since Megatron is set on reviving Predacons, perhaps we could do something similar."

Ratchet snorted at the idea. "I find it highly unlikely that we would be able to do such a thing. As I had stated before, we do not have the technology required to clone a Predacon, much less _find_ any of these creatures." He motioned to the monitor. "I believe that they are just as extinct as anything that existed before the Cataclysm."

Joshua raised an eyebrow at the medic's statement; Sparkseer noticed.

"Is there something you are not telling us, Joshua?" Sparkseer inquired, bending down to give him a closer look.

Joshua looked back up at the blue mech with a somewhat straight face. Then he smirked. "When Jolt and I were setting up our lab, we discovered that there was more than just an Energon mine at our disposal."

The hanger instantly fell silent.

Fowler let out a spluttering noise as he looked at Joshua with a raised eyebrow. "Are you saying that you have one of those Predacon things trapped in your lab right now?"

"I never said it was a Predacon," Joshua replied calmly. He smiled a little. "In fact, he called himself something entirely different."

"What is it, then?" Liz frowned down at him.

"A Maximal."

There came a spluttering noise again from Ratchet while the others exchanged looks.

"I think I heard about them," Morgen spoke up, frowning. "When we were going through some of the myths that were recorded in the Hall of Records on Cybertron." He looked down at Joshua. "And you're saying you actually _found_ one of them?"

"Yes." Joshua blinked calmly when he saw the looks of shock that were sent in his direction. "Is it really that crazy of an idea?"

"Yes, it is!" Ratchet exclaimed in response. "Predacons and any counterparts they might have had were all destroyed in the Cataclysm that wracked our planet. It's impossible that a Maximal might have lasted until this time period!"

"Are you so sure about that?" Joshua cocked his head to one side. "He could have survived under certain circumstances."

"He?" Maria repeated. "How can you tell?"

Joshua shrugged. "He talks and transforms just like every other Cybertronian. I'm surprised that you don't think of the Predacons in the same way."

"You're saying that beast out there is more intelligent than an average animal?" Arcee asked, frowning down at the blue and green Reploid.

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Joshua put his hands behind his back. "Your entire planet has transformations as a part of the culture. It's almost like you could disguise your existence from other people if you really wanted to. I'm not surprised that the Maximals and Predacons are capable of doing the same thing."

Maria blinked as her neighbor's words sunk in. "You really think so?"

"I know for the Maximals, so the Predacon's knowledge is simply speculation." Joshua looked up at her. "It would make sense, though, if the 'ancestors' of the Autobots and Decepticons were capable of doing the same things that they are now."

"Whoa....." Collin and Coil both said at once.

"Do you think we could meet this friend of yours?" Katie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Joshua dropped his arms and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see why not. I'd prefer to wait until Optimus returns, but I suppose this is something that you don't want to set aside for very long."

"Definitely," Arcee agreed.

"This could help us learn more about the Predacon that the Cons have," Wildfire added. "Why didn't you bring this up earlier, kid?"

Joshua shrugged in response. "I wasn't sure if it was something that needed to be said. I had been considering it for the sake of the Synthetic Energon, but Jolt suggested we hold off for a little while. Rhinox might not take well to coming out of our lab and meeting you guys."

"Rhinox?" Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Weird name."

"For our standards, perhaps," Ratchet agreed. "However, it might not have been uncommon in the past for Maximals to take on names which reflected their more... _beastly_ modes." He motioned to the monitor. "I am assuming correctly that this 'Rhinox' has a rhinoceros as his alternate mode?"

Joshua nodded in response. "He's refrained from using it for the most part because he's remained in my lab. He has transformed into it a few times just to make sure that he isn't locked into one mode -- apparently, they are extremely sensitive to high levels of Energon radiation, so he isn't able to stay in his bipedal mode for long."

Ratchet frowned curiously at that. "Interesting... I didn't think that there were any Cybertronians who actually had a problem with Energon radiation."

"Wait--" Liz looked between Joshua and the Autobots. "Energon is _radioactive?_ Since when?"

"Only in high levels," Ratchet replied. "And especially when a Cybertronian happens to be decaying."

Maria blinked at that, then looked over at her parents. "Did you guys know about that?"

Morgen and Katie exchanged looks at that, then frowned and shook their heads.

"Ratchet did mention that Energon might be dangerous to us, and we figured that was enough of a warning." Morgen shrugged. "We figured it'd probably be a good idea if we steered clear of the stuff after that."

"Kinda makes me wonder how it'd affect me or Joshua," Maria noted, looking down at her own hands. She frowned a little. "I mean...I know that I can _run_ on the stuff if I really want to, but...."

"You're running on Energon?" Arcee repeated in surprise. "Since when?"

"Since she nearly killed herself going after Megatron in that other dimension," Matthew responded. The statement got a sigh and a nod from his sister.

"I don't need it, but I can use it," Maria admitted. "Alternate Ratchet made that discovery, and I've found it makes my movements a bit more...smooth, I guess."

"Maybe the word you're looking for is 'fluid'," Joshua suggested.

"Maybe...yeah, that one sounds a lot better." Maria gave a slight nod. "Anyway, like I said, I don't need to run on it -- I can convert human food into energy -- but I _can_ run on Energon if I want to. I don't know if it being radioactive affects me badly, though."

Ratchet considered that. "It would be wise to consider that in the future. You had best keep clear of spilled Energon in battle, as it can not only be radioactive, but explosive as well."

Maria grinned. "My fire attacks are mostly long-range ones. I can shoot from a distance and use that to my advantage."

"Still, you should be careful." Ratchet wagged a digit at Maria. "And that goes for you, too!" He looked down at Joshua.

Joshua held up his hands in a warding manner. "I'll keep that in mind."

Anything else that could have been said was suddenly put to a halt by a beeping noise that came from Raf's computer.


	16. Chapter 16

_ Anything else that could have been said was suddenly put to a halt by a beeping noise that came from Raf's computer. _

The little computer hacker instantly checked to see what was up.

"Incoming Ground Bridge request," Raf reported. He looked up at Ratchet. "From Scotland."

"That was where the Wreckers went," Morgen noted, frowning as Ratchet activated the Ground Bridge.

"They took Ultra Magnus' ship," Maria recalled. "Maybe something happened?"

The group of humans looked down and watched as a familiar white, red, and green car drove through the Ground Bridge and started transforming.

"Wheeljack." Arcee walked over as the Ground Bridge shut down. "What happened? Where are the others?"

"Havin' a swell time takin' the long way home in Ultra Magnus' boat, I'm sure," Wheeljack responded. "Miko and Khrista included."

"I'd wondered what was taking so long with those sodas," Raf remarked.

"Khrista snuck out?" Liz asked in surprise.

"She must've pulled some Ghost-Type trickery to make herself and Miko invisible while they ran out," Maria muttered, frowning thoughtfully.

"Well, Bulkhead and SC _were_ heading out," Wildfire commented.

"Did you secure the Predacon bone?" Ratchet asked.

Wheeljack paused at the question. "The, uh... 'beast hunt' kinda imploded, Doc."

The humans exchanged looks at that; there were various sour ones at the news.

"Well, I just got wind of another 'Con hot spot," Fowler spoke up, stepping out of his office. "It's right outside of Taos, New Mexico. Since Prime's unit isn't back from oil country--"

Arcee knew where the human was going. "Raf, set a Bridge for Fowler's coordinates." She looked up at Wheeljack. "You, roll with me."

"Not today, all right?" Wheeljack responded.

Arcee started walking towards where the Ground Bridge had been set up to open. "If you're all right sending me out there alone...."

"That's how I prefer to roll," Wheeljack spat back, turning to watch the femme.

"I could do with some action," Wildfire spoke up suddenly, grinning.

"Same here!" Maria agreed.

"Oh, no you don't." Fowler sent Maria a glare from across the hanger. "You still haven't told us all the places you've been to on those World Jumping sprees of yours. You're staying here until then."

Maria scowled. "You really think you can keep me here just because of that?"

"Well, you have to admit, you weren't able to do very much when we were attacking Darkmount," Wildfire responded, giving Maria a meaningful look. "Maybe you should sit this one out."

Maria's scowl deepened. "Aw, come on...."

"It might be wise of you to train here on the base instead," Sparkseer spoke up. "Joshua, perhaps you could spar with her?"

Joshua gave a one-shoulder shrug. "I don't see why not."

Maria folded her arms across her chest and sighed through her nose. "All right, all right. Just make sure you actually use your fire powers a bit, kay, Wildfire?"

"And Wheeljack, you should go, as well," Ratchet said, giving the Wrecker a glare. "Do not make me abandon this complex equation to make me venture outside of my comfort zone on account of Wildfire's well-known and reckless behavior when it comes to battle."

"Especially when she's given a lot of drones to chop and blast to pieces," First Aid added.

Wildfire sent the medic a glare while Maria looked between the three of them in surprise. "I am not reckless, you daft medic! If anything, Maria is!"

"Hey!" Maria gained a hurt expression. "Now that's not very nice!"

"It's still the truth."

Ratchet looked like he was starting to get annoyed. _"Be that as it may--"_

"I get the hint, Doc." Wheeljack gave Ratchet a glare. "I'll go, all right? Happy?"

Ratchet gave a curt nod in response, then looked over at Fowler. "The coordinates, Agent Fowler?"

The man quickly gave Ratchet the location, then turned and gave Maria a look. "And now you're going to fill me in on whatever it is that we're missing from those stories of yours."

Maria still had a grumpy expression from having been told that she couldn't participate, but she gave a nod in response. "Yeah, I got it. You wanna do it in your office or out here so that I don't have to talk about it twice for the sake of them?" She motioned with her head towards Jack and Raf.

Fowler blinked at that, then let out a sigh. "I'll be over there in a minute."

Wheeljack let out a groan as the Ground Bridge opened up and Wildfire and Arcee stepped into it. "You two should know that--"

Whatever else he was going to say was cut off as he disappeared into the Ground Bridge, which Ratchet shut a moment later.

Ratchet sighed. "I feel much better without them here."

Maria raised an eyebrow at the comment, then turned her attention to Fowler as he climbed up the stairs to where the other humans were either standing or sitting around. "So, where do you want us to start?"

Fowler paused, sending Maria something of a sour look before finding a chair and sitting down. "How many times have you done this whole 'World Jumping' thing?"

"I've used my portals to get off this world...six times now." Maria nodded. "So I've got access to seven different worlds so far. You already saw what happened with the whole 'Atlantis' thing from that movie we brought."

"Yeah, I remember it. Where was it you went next, exactly?"

"Pokemon." Maria grinned. "I call it Neo-Mobius, though, because Sonic the Hedgehog lives there now, too."

"What?" Jack looked at Maria in surprise. "Seriously?"

"How?" Raf frowned. "They belong to two entirely different video game companies -- Sonic shouldn't be able to go anywhere near there!"

Maria shrugged. "I'm telling you guys the truth here. Sonic and a number of his friends are now a part of the Pokemon world's lore -- they helped me out with taking down Team Galactic -- that's the group that was in those Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum games." She looked over at Fowler, who shut his mouth. "I was there long before those events, though."

"How long before?" Fowler frowned at the Reploid.

"Let's see...." Maria frowned thoughtfully. "Well, before I was a Pokemon Trainer, I got turned into a Pokemon myself and went through the _Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky_ events. Then I got turned back and made my way through the main franchise games -- Kanto, Jhoto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova. I didn't know about the Mobians until Sinnoh, because that's when they really got involved with the world as a whole."

"So, you weren't there for the recent games?" Raf blinked as he adjusted his glasses.

Maria shook her head. "The Trainers there should be able to handle themselves, and even if they can't, the Pokemon I'd befriended for the seven years I was there should be able to handle things."

"Seven years?!" Jack pulled back in surprise. "How old _are_ you?"

"I'm seventeen." Maria folded her arms across her chest as she sent him a sour look.

"Traveling between worlds like this can make time go out of whack," Morgen explained. "For us, she was only gone for a week."

"Atlantis was two days," Liz piped up.

"That Pokemon fiasco with Cyrus was two weeks," Matthew said, frowning.

"And I was in Capcom for a part of that," Maria added. A slight chill ran down her spine at that, but she visibly didn't show it.

"How long was that tournament?" Collin asked, frowning.

"Um...I think...five days, maybe?" Maria shrugged. "It was in the middle of summer, and I don't really keep track of days then. And that last one was...a week, maybe? That was just this last summer, though."

Matthew shrugged. "Sounds about right, yeah."

Fowler blinked a couple times, then frowned a little. "That's...hmm."

"Time and space is relative." Morgen made a lazy waving motion. "We're like Doctor Who -- but without the box."

Katie rolled her eyes at that.

"Uh huh...." Fowler's frown deepened a little. "You mentioned a tournament?"

"Smash Worlds." Maria grinned. "It's an inter-dimensional fighting tournament. I got to meet all sorts of cool people there. That's where I first met Batman, actually, and I I got to team up with Captain America for a while there, too. It was actually pretty fun." Her smile faded a little. "When Wily wasn't trying to get control over me, that is."

The group was a bit more subdued for a moment.

"All the same, not everyone can say they got to meet Batman face-to-face," First Aid spoke up. "Right?"

Ratchet scowled a bit. "From what I understand of your media, this 'Batman' character isn't someone you should be able to approach in the first place."

"He's just really guarded about things," Maria responded. "If you meet him as Bruce Wayne, he's gonna be a lot more friendly. But if you manage to get _Batman's_ trust, that's going to go a long way in the future." She looked over at Matthew. "I mean, he trusted us at least a little bit."

"I think he trusted you more because he actually got to talk with you more than he did with me," Matthew responded. "I'm lucky that I just got to _meet_ the guy."

Maria nodded sagely in agreement.

"Did you win?" Raf asked. When everyone turned and looked at the kid, he ducked his head and said, "Well, someone had to ask it."

Maria smiled a little, then shook her head. "Chaos -- Mewtwo -- ripped me a new one and completely knocked me out of the running. So I'm not the most powerful out there, but I can hold my own against some people."

Fowler frowned. "And that last world?"

"The DC universe, and all this." Maria motioned to the Autobots who were present. She paused, then frowned. "You know, I still haven't figured out what had happened with the portals when we went there."

"Hmm?" Matthew blinked. "What do you mean?"

"The whole...you ended up with the Autobots, and I was off on the East Coast hanging out with the JLA thing." Maria's frown deepened. "I don't think the portals are meant to do that -- split the travelers, I mean."

"It must've happened for a reason," Liz pointed out. "Some kind of...I dunno, destiny or something?"

"You mean, that God wanted it to happen?" Maria blinked at that. "Well, I _guess_ that makes sense. But why did he decide to do that then?"

Morgen shrugged. "Who knows what God thinks?"

"I didn't think you people were religious," Fowler noticed with surprise.

"God created everything -- even the different dimensions -- so I don't see a reason not to believe in him." Maria shrugged again.

Fowler blinked at that. "Okay then." He frowned. "So what happened when you were in that other world?"

"We were around for Unicron's awakening, and then a little of the relic hunt after that," Matthew remembered.

"And then Brainiac pulling mind control on that dimension's Megatron," Maria added. "That wasn't fun."

"Especially when you nearly killed yourself." Matthew gave his sister a seriously dark look.

"Will you let that go already?" Maria turned on her brother. "I'm not dead _now,_ and I can't go back there in order to do anything to change that kind of thing."

"Still, you should've been a little bit more careful."

"Okay, I get that you kids have been put in life-or-death situations before," Fowler said, getting the attention of the siblings. "What I'd like to know is if you know anything about other people who might be doing this."

The group exchanged looks at that.

"You mean...right now?" Liz blinked. "Because Mom and Dad used to do it."

"Yes, I mean right now," Fowler responded impatiently.

"Then we don't know of anyone else," Maria responded, shrugging. "I haven't seen anyone else do what we've done."

"I might have an explanation on that."

The group turned as Joshua came up the stairs and stepped onto the platform.

"We are aware of the Multiverse Theory, right?" Joshua looked around at the group. Seeing a number of nods, he continued, "There's a chance that there is only a small group of World Jumpers in existence in each dimension -- we could all that there is here, in order to keep the group from becoming too powerful."

"Too powerful?" Collin repeated.

"Think about it." Joshua motioned to Maria. "Maria has only been off-world six times, and she has already managed to gain control over what could be referred to as fire magic, as well as robotic technology from another world. And the more worlds she travels to, the more techniques she discovers and the more technology she learns. The same goes for the rest of us. And if we keep going with that, then there is a chance we could be looked for because of our strengths."

"We weren't looked for," Katie spoke up. "Probably because we were thrown unprepared into situations." She placed a hand on Liz's shoulder and squeezed it gently. "Their generation is much more prepared for whatever is going to be thrown at them."

Fowler frowned slightly at that. "Uh huh."

Maria let out a sigh and stretched her arms out over her head. "Is there anything else you wanted to ask me? Because I'd like to get some training done."

Fowler blinked at the statement, then waved Maria off with a sigh. "Go ahead; I'm done with questions for now."

"Kay." Maria walked over to the railing, then leaned back and backflipped over as her hoverboard moved under her feet. "I'll be out for a bit; I'll come back soon, though."

Ratchet muttered something about "reckless younglings," but Maria ignored him as she flew out of the hanger and into the warm Nevada sunlight.

"Okay...now, where can I go to work on my moves?" Maria muttered to herself, looking around the base. There were a couple people moving around in the area, but they looked like they were un a hurry to get around, so the Reploid decided to leave them alone as she slowly turned in the air.

"Hey, kid!"

Maria turned slightly when she heard the unfamiliar voice, and she looked down, blinking curiously.

"You're that World Jumper kid, right?" called up the young man standing a few feet below. "Maria White?"

Maria blinked at the question, then lowered herself so that she was only hovering about a foot above the asphalt. "Yeah, that's me. What's up?"

The man blinked in surprise when he suddenly found Maria giving him his undivided attention. "Well, a couple guys and I were wondering if we could ask you a few things."

Maria cocked her head to one side at that statement, frowning a little. "What kind of things? I had been planning on doing some personal training, and I was looking for a place that I could that without disturbing anyone."

The man blinked a couple times as he absorbed that particular statement. "Personal training? But...aren't you a robot?"

"There's always room for improvement." Maria smiled a little. "'Sides, I used to be human, too, and aren't we always told to give more than 100 percent?"

The man looked somewhat taken aback at the question.

"And the technical term is Reploid," Maria added. "So...your questions?"

The man blinked a couple times before he realized that Maria had brought him back to his original request. "Oh! Well, one of my buddies was wondering if...well, if a kid like you's ever offed somebody."

Maria stared at him when she heard the question. "Offed...?" She frowned, guessing at what he was getting at. "I've knocked people out, but I've never killed people. I'm not a government official or anything like that -- I don't really think I have the authority to do something like that. Why would you think I had?"

"It's that game that came out -- the MegaMan one."

Maria felt something in her grow cold, causing her question to come out sounding more harsh. "What about it?"

"You melted MetalMan as soon as you got there." There was a serious glint in the man's eyes as folded his arms across his chest. "In their eyes, they'd probably thought you'd offed him."

"How do you know?" Maria responded. "Metal was an artificial being -- he wasn't ever really alive."

"You might as well make the same argument about yourself, since you're a 'Reploid' now."

Maria's eyes widened, and her breathing hitched suddenly. She blinked for a moment, then shook her head quickly. "That...that was an automatic reaction. I'd already been slashed in multiple places because Metal had been planning on killing _me_ \-- Wily doesn't seem to have ever had any qualms about that sort of thing. So I lashed out in response, and...." She motioned to her armor, looking down at herself for a moment before glaring at the man in front of her. "I didn't kill him on purpose, but I definitely wanted to retaliate. I went there to _help_ people, not to _die_."

That said, Maria rose above him again and took another look around before zooming into the hangar where she and the others had met with government agents some time before. Luckily, the area was empty, but Maria still flew around the area once to make sure that there wasn't anyone in there with her.

Then she landed in the middle of the empty space, breathed in, and flames burst into existence on her shoulders. "Okay. Time to get this training started."

Maria shifted her stance, moving one foot slightly in front of the other before summoning a Fire Sphere. She bounced it one hand for a moment before tossing it back and forth between her gloved hands. Then she threw it up into the air and created another Fire Sphere before throwing the second up at the first, creating an explosion of flames that fell down around Maria, dissipating before it could even hit the ground. She repeated this for a while, changing which hand threw the second Fire Sphere every few tosses before she switched to focusing on something else.

Maria let the fire on her shoulders fade as she gripped her fists tightly, causing a pair of sharp, curved blades to come out of the outside of her arms with a loud _shing!_

Maria looked down at her arms for a moment, tightening and loosening her fists a little. After a moment, she started moving -- first stabbing forward, then turning and twisting as slowly worked her way into her movements, becoming more deeply pulled into them. Fire started leaking out onto her blades, leaving streaks of red-orange flames as she continued to move in a dance-like state.

It didn't take her too long before she was no longer thinking about her movements and was simply _moving,_ fire swirling around her in a tornado of heat and red-orange light.

Maria was concentrating on keeping an eye on her level of energy so much that she didn't even notice that there were people looking in with wide eyes.


	17. Chapter 17

It was late in the evening when Maria returned to the Autobot's hangar, exhausted from having used up a good deal of her energy running herself ragged.

She blinked in surprise when she found that the hangar was mostly empty.

"Where is everybody?" Maria asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked up at Ratchet.

"Your family and Joshua garnered permission from Fowler to return to their home and lab, respectively," Ratchet responded. "Sparkseer decided to go with them."

"Joshua said they were planning on coming back tomorrow," First Aid added. "I think they just need to make sure that no one's worried about them."

"Uh huh." Maria looked around the hanger again, considering that. Seeing that Jack and Raf were the only humans around, she asked, "And Agent Fowler?"

Jack shifted at the question as Maria walked up the stairs to where the two boys were. "He's...."

"He's with Nurse Darby fetching a Predacon talon from a museum," Raf piped up. "Since everybody else is out of the base."

"There's a talon in a museum?" Maria blinked in surprise. Understanding crossed her face a moment later. "Oh...they must've dug it up at a dig site and thought it was a part of a dinosaur or something."

"According to what I found, they were pretty baffled by it." Raf motioned to his computer, which was sitting on a table a short distance from the couch.

Jack paced a bit. "The should be back with it by now, though...." He scowled a bit. "Maybe they stopped for dinner...?"

"Isn't that what grown-ups do when they're dating?" Raf piped up.

"It's what grown-ups do when they're _hungry_ ," Jack corrected sourly.

Maria blinked at the statement, then frowned. "Wait a minute...are you suggesting that Nurse Darby and Agent Fowler are--"

Maria was cut off by a ringing noise, and Jack quickly scrambled to pull out a flip phone -- much to the Reploid's surprise; she hadn't expected him to have that kind of cell.

The teenage boy quickly raised it to his ear and asked hopefully, "Mom?"

_ ::Guess again, Jackrabbit!:: _

Maria blinked in surprise at the loud volume as Jack pulled the phone away from his ear with a wide-eyed expression.

"Miko?" the Reploid guessed.

Jack sent Maria a somewhat sour look as he put the phone back over his ear, effectively muting Miko's voice so that no one else would have been able to hear her half of the conversation. "I-I can't talk right now, Miko. I need to leave this line free." He paused. "Wheeljack is fine; he's on a mission with Arcee and Wildfire. What? No -- it's just one mission. They're just partners." He pulled back from the phone and looked at it in surprise.

Maria raised an eyebrow at the move.

Jack gained an annoyed expression. "Listen, Miko, I've gotta call Mom, okay? I'll talk to you later." He promptly hung up, then speed dialed and put the phone to his ear again.

Seeing that Jack wasn't planning on talking for a while, Maria went over to the couch and sat down next to Raf and glanced at the TV to see what game he was playing. She blinked, then turned and looked at the little hacker. "Is that the MegaMan game that Fowler found?"

"Hmm?" Raf looked over at Maria, then nodded. "Yeah. We didn't really have much else to do, so Jack and I have been taking turns playing on separate save files. I'm further than he is." He motioned to the TV screen, which had a CGI version of Maria standing next to a figure dressed in yellow and black, with a lightning bolt on his chest. The two of them were running down what looked like a hallway, but there were a few small fans with legs running around.

Maria blinked, then smiled a little. "Yeah, I remember that. Taking out AirMan was really difficult, though."

"Straight to voicemail," Jack muttered worriedly. "I'm going to try Agent Fowler."

Raf looked over at Jack for a moment, then back at Maria. "How difficult was it?"

"He was using that fan of his to try and blast us away. I ended up tearing a part of the floor and pushing it up in order to use it as a shield."

"Oh wow, really?" Raf's eyes widened. "You must be pretty strong, then!"

Maria blinked at the praise, then smiled. "Yeah; I guess I kinda am, huh?"

There came another groan from Jack. "Straight to voicemail, just like Mom's."

"Maybe they went to a movie," Raf suggested.

Maria raised an eyebrow. "When they have a Predacon talon? I'd think they'd want to come straight back here -- the Cons are hunting those things too."

Jack and Raf exchanged looks at that; First Aid, Coil, and Ratchet also looked concerned at the idea.

"You've got a point," Jack said, waving his phone at Maria. "Raf? A Ground Bridge to the museum would be pretty nice right about now."

Raf nodded, pausing the game and moving over to his computer while Jack ran down the stairs.

Maria rose to her feet. "I'm coming with you."

Ratchet instantly got ready to protest. "Maria--"

"Optimus and the others obviously aren't back yet, and you two are medics; not fighters, and Coil's still a kid." Maria started down the stairs and joined Jack in front of where the Ground Bridge would normally appear. "Besides, I can hold my own if I have to. My fire abilities can definitely cause damage."

Ratchet hesitated, but First Aid nudged the mech.

"She does have a point," First Aid said.

Ratchet hesitated again, then let out a sigh and shook his helm. "You Carlsdales are going to be the death of me one of these days."

Maria smirked and shrugged in response as Raf opened the Ground Bridge. "Relax; I'll make sure nothing happens to us." She turned and nodded to Jack, then ran through the Ground Bridge.

When the duo came out on the other side, it was clear that something _had_ happened in the parking lot of the museum.

Jack made a beeline for tracks of burned rubber while Maria remained where she was in front of where the Ground Bridge had been, looking around to see if there were any Decepticons nearby.

"This isn't good," Jack murmured worriedly as he picked up what looked like the remains of a bright red flip phone. He opened his phone in an instant and activated another speed dial number. "Arcee, I need your help. My mom and Fowler may be in serious trouble."

Maria finally came over, eyeing the burned rubber tracks and the remains of the phone. "What do you think happened?"

Jack shook his head, still holding the phone to his ear. "It looks like a Con took off with Mom and Fowler -- probably the Predacon talon, too." His expression brightened a moment later. "Okay! Thanks Arcee!" He shut the phone and looked back at Maria. "Arcee, Wildfire, and Wheeljack got one of the fossils; they're going to drop it off in the base and go get Mom and Fowler."

Maria's eyes widened in surprise, and get gained a delighted expression a moment later. "Great! That means the Cons have one less bone to work with!"

A Ground Bridge opened a moment later, and the two ran through it and back into the base, where they were met with the sight of a rather large fossilized piece of metal sitting in the middle of the base.

Maria blinked at the sight as the Ground Bridge closed behind her and Jack. "Is that a...spine and a ribcage?"

"It appears to be," Ratchet confirmed. "We are lucky that we have managed to retrieve even one piece of a skeleton. Now, all that we need to do is destroy it."

"Maybe I can help!"

Maria and Jack turned upon hearing the familiar voice, and their eyes widened when they saw the person who had spoken.

"Miko?" Jack looked up at the silver-armored figure in front of him. "What--"

"What is that you're wearing?" Maria asked, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"It's the Apex Armor!" Miko grinned down at them. "Cool, right? I stole it from Starscream!"

Maria grinned. "Cool! How did you manage that?"

"Miko, he could have killed you!" Jack burst out.

"But he didn't," Shape-Change spoke up as she stepped into the hangar.

"Besides, she had me to back her up," Khrista added as she came over to stand next to Miko. "I could have thrown a Draco Meteor at him if we weren't so close to Magnus' shuttle." She looked over at the large fossil that Wheeljack and the others had dropped off. "So, we need to destroy this thing?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah. Can't have Shockwave finding us out -- I was wondering if I could be able to melt it."

Jack turned his surprised gaze on Maria. _"Melt_ it?"

"I should think that would be impossible," Ratchet spoke up. "It has been in a fossilized state for so long that it is highly likely that the metal would need super-heated temperatures in order to be destroyed."

"You mean, like a volcano?" Raf suggested. "We could take it to Hawaii and drop it in a volcano there. The Cons would never be able to get it out."

Maria couldn't help but grin at the idea.

** Time Break **

It was about fifteen minutes after Ultra Magnus and Bulkhead had dropped the fossil down one of Hawaii's volcanoes that the Ground Bridge opened again, returning five familiar figures to the base.

"Mom." Jack hugged Nurse Darby, relieved. "Are you all right?"

Nurse Darby sighed. "The milk run...turned a little sour. But Bill and I are just fine." She smiled up at Agent Fowler, who returned the expression.

Maria raised an eyebrow at the two of them.

"Come on, June." Agent Fowler nudged Nurse Darby towards the recreational platform. "Let's sit down."

"Bill?" Jack repeated incredulously, watching the two of them walk off.

Maria blinked, then smiled a little and shook her head. "Looks like they're a little bit closer. Huh. Definitely wasn't expecting that."

Miko, who had gotten out of the Apex armor after showing off for a shocked Ratchet and delighted Coil, bounded over and pointed at the Cybertronians who had just returned -- specifically, Wheeljack and Arcee. "Looks like you got jacked, Jack. And by another 'Jack!"

Maria rolled her eyes at Miko. "How long have you had that tongue twister in your head?"

Miko sent Maria a sour look as Wheeljack walked past them and towards Bulkhead, who had been talking with Shape-Change until he noticed the other's approach. The mostly-white Wrecker held up a servo, which Bulkhead promptly took, grinning widely.

"Bromance trumps romance," Jack said coolly, watching the scene.

"Glad to be your bro, bro," Miko responded, dropping an arm on Jack's shoulder and leaning against him. The two exchanged knowing looks.

Maria chuckled and shook her head at the group while Wildfire came up behind her.

"Day go well, kid?" Wildfire asked.

The Reploid looked up at the femme. "Well, enough, I guess. I ended up spending a good deal of it in another hangar working on some moves." I smiled a little at the memory of the fiery tornado. "I think I've got a new move pretty much figured out, but it takes a bit in order to keep it going."

"Well, good." Wildfire patted Maria on the head, getting a sour look. She looked over at First Aid. "Optimus report in yet?"

First Aid shook her helm. "I'm starting to get worried; they've been gone for the entire day."

A beeping noise suddenly came from Raf's computer. "It's Optimus! He's requesting a Ground Bridge back to base!"

"Well, let him in, then!" Maria called back.

The green portal opened instantly, and four figures emerged. However, they didn't look necessarily triumphant.

"What happened?" Arcee demanded as Optimus stepped into the base. He was followed shortly by Smokescreen and Bumblebee, who were practically carrying a shuddering Jolt between them.

"We encountered Shockwave, and lost the Predacon fossil," Optimus responded grimly.

** "Jolt took a hit to the leg," ** Bumblebee added as Ratchet and First Aid quickly moved over. **"He hasn't been responding, either."**

Maria took one look at the expression on Jolt's face and paused, frowning. "It looks like he's in shock...."

"He's been like that ever since he set his optics on Shockwave," Smokescreen responded. He and Bumblebee moved Jolt onto a berth in one corner of the hangar while Ratchet and First Aid grabbed what medical tools they could. "I know you guys said that Jolt and him know each other, but--"

"It's not just that they 'know each other'," Wildfire spoke up grimly.

"Jolt has been experimented on in the past," Shape-Change added. "Shockwave forcibly split his Spark in order to create Coil."

"He _what?"_ Fowler looked up at the group with an expression of confusion while Maria blinked with a wide-eyed expression of surprise.

"He...he split Jolt's soul?" Maria reached for her own chest, almost absent-mindedly. "But...how is that even possible?"

"It has been said in Cybertronian lore that Cybertronian Sparks are capable of splitting naturally," Optimus spoke up. "Certain Cybertronian pairs have been created in the Well of AllSparks, when a single Spark splits in two. Your kind would refer to them as 'twins'."

"Ratchet mentioned something like that before," Raf remembered. "Your unofficial morale officers?"

There came a groan from the aforementioned medic as he paused in his work of sealing up the leak that was on Jolt's leg; First Aid looked up from where she had been cleaning up the spilled Energon on the floor, giving a slight smile before she went back to her work.

"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are a prime example," Optimus agreed. He looked down at Coil, who was standing near Jolt's helm and looking at the mech worriedly. "However, Jolt and Coil are not Spark twins."

"According to the notes I stole from Shockwave's lab, he had been researching organic races and their cultures," Shape-Change spoke up. "He wanted to know what would happen if we were to put a Cybertronian into a body that could grow like an organic infant did, but the Well of AllSparks had shut down long before the war had gotten as bad as it did. So he took Jolt and experimented with making a new Spark from his by tearing off pieces and applying some kind of program to force it to become a Spark of its own." Her expression soured somewhat. "He also took the chance to experiment with Jolt's unique electrical ability."

"Electrical ability?" Jack repeated.

"You mean he's got superpowers?" Miko asked, awed. "Cool! Is stuff like that common on Cybertron?"

Wheeljack shook his helm. "Nah. It's like there's some kind of irregularity that pops up in a Spark sometimes, and then it shows up as a weird technique. Shifters are a lot more common than anything else, and _they're_ few and far between."

"I think we prefer that to having us be a lot more common," Shape-Change responded, folding her arms across her chest. "I'd prefer not to have more than one mech like Makeshift running around."

"So, what other kinds of powers are there?" Raf asked.

Wildfire shrugged, then held up a servo...which promptly burst into flames for a few seconds. "There's a reason that Maria is my _partner_ , you know."

"Whoa!" Miko's eyes were wide as the flames faded. "Cool!"

First Aid chuckled as she finished cleaning up the spilled Energon. "I myself don't have any abilities, but I am aware of the abilities that the rest of Wildfire's team has. Sparkseer's ability -- and his namesake -- is one of the rarer of the abilities that a Cybertronian can have. Jolt and Coil both share the ability to conduct electricity -- something which I have seen Joshua employ once, as well."

"Jolt's my big brother," Coil spoke up, turning to look at the others. "Of course I'm gonna have his powers."

Wildfire nodded at the little mech in response. "Exactly."

"I've heard rumors of other mechs and femmes having different abilities, but I haven't been able to meet them in person," Arcee remarked. "There were a lot of rumors on Cybertron about the Thirteen having special gifts, and that there were some Cybertronians who inherited them. I think those are just rumors, though."

"A-and don't forget all those stories about the Predacons!" Smokescreen piped up. "I've heard that they didn't just breathe fire like that one the Cons had!"

"Have," Ultra Magnus corrected. "The beast still lives."

"What?" Smokescreen looked at the leader of the Wreckers in surprise. "Seriously? But shouldn't it be frozen over?"

"Apparently, that wasn't enough to take it out," Wheeljack grumbled. "Stupid thing nearly killed us."

Maria looked over at Khrista. "How strong?"

"It's fast for something it's size," Khrista responded. "If it were a Pokemon, it'd probably be a Fire/Steel-Type pseudo-dragon Legendary of some kind."

Maria blinked at the comparison as gears started turning in her head. "Okay...so if I meet this thing, it'd probably be a better idea if I went with my Buster and Flash Fire'd every time it used Flamethrower." She grinned a bit. "Kinda like taking on White Kyurem, but without the whole freezing bit."

Ratchet spluttered. "You are _not_ putting yourself in that monster's like of fire!"

"I never said I was! It'd be a good strategy if I ever did run into it, though...." Maria gained a thoughtful look while Wildfire smirked above her.

Ratchet threw up his servos as he let out a groan. "What is it with you humans always getting yourselves into dangerous situations? You should know better when it comes to things that can kill you!"

Maria blinked at the statement, then suddenly remembered what had been brought up to her earlier.

_ MetalMan.... _

The Reploid quickly shook her head, knocking the memory back. "If I don't prepare here for things that could kill me, I could be unprepared when I go to other worlds! And I'd rather not be unprepared when I went to those places in order to help!"

Maria's outburst got the Autobots and humans to look at her with mixed expressions. Wildfire, who initially looked surprised, gained a more subdued expression a moment later.

Maria paused for a moment, seeing the gazes that were locked on her. She shook her head again and started for where the couch was, saying, "I need a nap. Mom and Dad have my number; they might call and wake me up if they need anything."

That said, she lay down on the couch and dropped her head on the arm rest while she folded her arms across her chest. Then she closed her eyes and settled into recharge.


	18. Travelers?

Maria was woken up from her recharge by a loud beeping noise in her left ear and a small bit of green text in one corner of her vision.

She slapped a hand over her ear. "Yo. What's up?"

 _::I'm in need of a Ground Bridge::_ Joshua responded. _::I would use the one that I have in my lab in order to return us to Nevada, but the base's shielding is preventing us from getting a proper fix on the location. Everyone else is coming back, as well::_

"Gotcha. Thanks for the heads-up." She paused. "And your Maximal buddy?"

_::He's going to stay in the lab for a little while longer::_

"Kay then."

Maria rose from the couch and looked around the hangar to see who was up. Seeing that Jack, Miko, and Raf were nowhere in sight, she looked over towards the Cybertronians.

"Hey, Ratch!" Maria called out, causing the medic to stiffen out of surprise. "Joshua wants a Ground Bridge!"

Ratchet turned to look at Maria over his shoulder, showing his annoyance at having been suddenly distracted from his work. Then he turned to face the Ground Bridge controls, muttering something under his breath as he opened the portal.

As soon as the green portal was opened, Sparkseer stepped through, followed closely by Maria's family. Joshua came out a second later, and as soon as the Reploid was in the base, Ratchet shut down the Ground Bridge.

"Welcome back," First Aid said, nodding to the returning group.

"It is good to be back," Sparkseer responded. He looked around the hanger for a moment, then paused when he saw the still figure lying on the berth. He breathed in sharply. "What happened while I was away?"

"Jolt had, apparently, come into contact with Shockwave yesterday while he was searching for Predacon bones with Optimus, Smokescreen, and Bumblebee," Ratchet explained rather grimly. "He has yet to recover from the shock. The others are out presently scouting, in order to see if there are any Decepticons in the area searching for us or other bones that we might not have been made aware of."

"Coil is with the other human children," First Aid added. "We wanted to make sure that they could spend some time with...people their size today, considering that the others are going to be busy."

Joshua nodded. "How has Jolt been doing?"

"He recovered from the shock late last night and finally managed to settle into a proper recharge," Ratchet grumbled. "He has yet to wake up today."

Maria, leaning against the railing, gained a sympathetic look and hummed softly. "It's probably going to be a while, judging from how he looked when they brought him in last night."

"What makes you say that?" First Aid looked over at Maria with a curious expression.

Sparkseer looked in her direction, as well, and started to open his mouth. However, he paused and cocked his helm slightly.

"Are you speaking from experience?" Ratchet hedged a guess.

Maria paused at the question, then started to open her mouth in order to answer, only to be suddenly cut off by a sudden headache. The Reploid flinched and closed her eyes just seconds before her vision would have blurred.

_Two Cybertronians were out in the middle of the desert, fighting. They looked somewhat familiar, but there was definitely something about them that set them apart from the ones that Maria knew._

_"Do you realize what you are trying to do?!" the taller of the two demanded, dodging out of the way of a purple blast from the shorter mech. "You are going to tear the multiverse apart!"_

_"So what? So long as we get to rule the pieces that are left, I'd be more than happy with getting to mess around with those!" A somewhat-crazed laugh slipped out of the shorter figure, red optics flashing with a crazed delight._

A loud squeal of rubber against asphalt shook Maria out of the vision abruptly, causing her to shake her head and open her eyes as the headache faded.

Wildfire transformed up to her bi-pedal mode. "Ratchet, I just spotted two Cybertronians fighting out in the middle of the desert!"

"What?!" Ratchet scrambled for the computer and pulled up what looked like a map of the surrounding area. "But that's impossible! I'm not picking up Spark signatures of any sort other than those of our fellow Autobots! How is that even possible?!"

"Wildfire, did one of them have doorwings and a purple-and-black paint job?" Maria spoke up suddenly. "And did the other one have a mostly-white one?"

Wildfire looked over at the Reploid in surprise for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, that's right. How'd you know?"

Maria tapped one side of her head. "I just got a vision of the fight."

"A _vision?"_ Ratchet snorted. "That's impossible!"

"Actually, my wrench-wielding friend, it _is_ possible," Morgen spoke up as he and the others arrived on the platform Maria was standing on. "Comes with the territory of being a World Jumper. If there's something wrong on another planet, something's gotta let one of us know. For Maria, it's those visions."

"What warned you two?" Maria looked over at her parents.

"We got no warning," Katie responded dryly.

"I'd say that the electronics going haywire every time was more than enough of a warning," Morgen pointed out. "And every single time, the TV would act up before sucking us in. We did end up going to a _lot_ of cartoons that way."

"So what are we going to do about the two Cybertronians that Wildfire spotted?" Liz asked.

Maria jumped off the platform and landed on her hoverboard before she looked up at Wildfire. "Let's go have a closer look."

Wildfire looked down at Maria with a raised optic ridge while Ratchet instantly started to protest.

"I am not about to let you go out there and possibly get yourself harmed!" the medic barked. "You may be a World Jumper, but that does make you invincible! Getting between two combatants of our size could prove to be deadly!"

"I'm not a Reploid because I initially wanted to be!"

The hangar stilled at Maria's outburst, and the humans and Cybertronians present looked at Maria with shocked and concerned expressions.

Ratchet looked somewhat taken aback, but he quickly reeled in his emotions and gained a more grim expression. He remained with that expression for a moment, then gave a sigh and a slight nod. "Very well. Just be careful, all right?"

Maria gave a nod in response as Wildfire transformed down to her vehicle mode again. "I know how dangerous Cybertronians can be, Ratchet. I'll stay out of the line of fire." That said, she stepped off her hoverboard and slipped into Wildfire's interior, and the Autobot turned around and drove out of the hanger again.

"Why'd you get a vision now?" Wildfire asked as she drove out of the base. "The last one was when Darkmount came up, wasn't it?"

Maria nodded in response. "Yeah. I don't know why it only just decided to show up now, but there must be a big reason for it -- and I think it has something to do with the two Cybertronians."

"What do you mean?"

"The tall, mostly white one -- he mentioned something about the multiverse."

Wildfire nearly hit the brakes, but kept going, resulting in a sudden bounce that shook the seats. "You're serious?"

"Yeah. He said that the other guy might end up tearing the entire multiverse apart. If that isn't cause for worry, I don't know what is."

Wildfire went silent at that, but the speed she was going at increased. "All right then. We'd better find them and figure out what's going on before they do something to our universe!"

**Time Break**

Wildfire came to a sudden stop, causing Maria to be pushed against the seat belt for a moment.

Maria let out a yelp of surprise. "Wildfire, what are you--"

The Reploid was suddenly cut off when a large wave of sand was suddenly thrown in their direction.

"What's going on out there?" Maria demanded, surprised. "Did we drive into a sandstorm?"

"No, I don't think so." Wildfire activated her windshield wipers, brushing the sand off the front window. "We almost ran into that fight between those two Cybertronians."

"What?!" Maria unbuckled her seatbelt and moved so that she could look out the front window of Wildfire's alt a little better. She stiffened when she saw the purple-and-black, metallic mass that was starting to get up in front of them. "Hey, wait a minute -- that guy looks like Smokescreen! How didn't I notice that before?!"

"Smokescreen?" Wildfire sounded surprised at the idea. "That can't be right."

The purple-and-black mech turned as he rose to his feet, and a pair of red optics peered in through he front windshield. A dark laugh escaped the mech. "Stupid human."

Maria froze when she heard the voice. "That sounds a _lot_ like Smokescreen, Wildfire."

The femme popped her door open in response. "Get out. Now."

Maria nodded, then scrambled out as Wildfire's alt mode started to shift. The Reploid turned around and watched as Wildfire threw up an uppercut as she shifted fully into her bipedal form. The purple-and-black mech -- who Maria could now clearly see looked like a repainted Smokescreen -- was sent flying on his back, out cold.

Wildfire made an annoyed noise as she dusted off the knuckles of her right servo. "I didn't think he was going to have the reflexes of a Vehicon when I hit him." She paused for a moment, then moved forward and bent over the mech, a frown coming over her face. "He does look like Smokescreen, but there's no way that he can be. The alternates we ran into on that other world didn't act like...." Her frown deepened. "The Autobot symbol's different."

"Really?" Maria jumped on her hoverboard and flew up and over to get a closer look at the mech, stopping above the mech's chest. She frowned. "I haven't seen a _purple_ Autobot symbol before. Have you?" She looked up at the red and orange femme, who shook her helm.

"The only symbols I've seen that are purple are the Decepticon's," Wildfire commented. She frowned back at the face of the mech at her feet. "Let's check on the mech he had been fighting."

Wildfire stepped away from Smokescreen's lookalike and started moving in the direction that the mech had come from. Maria followed after her, curious and cautious.

The two of them came to a stop in front of what looked like a large crater of some kind. Sand was starting to roll back down into it...and at the bottom, there was a white mech with black wings and a red mark on his chest, trying to get out of the sand that was around him.

And the red mark -- although the points appeared to be softened -- was the Decepticon symbol.

Wildfire stiffened when she saw the symbol and the head of the mech. "Megatron?"

"How is that possible?" Maria asked, frowning. "Megatron doesn't look like that...."

Their voices must have caught the mech's attention, because he turned his helm and looked up at the two of them with _blue_ optics -- not the red or purple that Wildfire or Maria were familiar with. Those optics narrowed soon after.

"Who are you?" the mech asked, frowning at the two of them.

Wildfire and Maria exchanged glances.

"Definitely sounds like Megatron," Maria commented.

"Something's different," Wildfire countered. "He doesn't _really_ sound like Megatron. He doesn't sound like he's been working in the mines of Kaon. And if he doesn't recognize us...." She looked down at the mech, who was eyeing them with a wary expression. "I'm Wildfire, and this is Maria."

The reaction that followed left Maria startled; the mech in the crater gained a panicked, almost terrified expression.

" _Wildfire?"_ the mech repeated. "Impossible! You should be dead!"

"Where have you been living, then? Under a rock?" Wildfire gained something of a sarcastic tone. "I made a pretty decent entrance when we stopped the Cons from blasting Darkmount's fusion cannons at human cities. You'd think that the news would have gotten to their officers by now."

 _That_ statement caused a confused expression to come over the mech's face -- an expression that left Maria greatly unnerved. Most Decepticons would have responded with an angered expression at not being informed, but...this one...

What was going on here?

"Decepticons...attacking humans?" The mech frowned for a moment, but then a expression of realization crossed his face. "Cliffjumper....could it be? Did I really make it into a reversed alternate dimension?"

That last statement caused the Energon in Maria's systems to freeze a little. "Did he just say what I thought he said?"

"Sounds like it," Wildfire commented, nodding. "Sounds like that multiverse thing you mentioned might have brought him from somewhere else." Then she raised her voice a little bit. "You wouldn't happen to be a World Jumper, would you?"

The mech looked startled when he heard the question. "World Jumper? I haven't heard that term before."

"Then you got here by accident," Maria guessed. She frowned slightly. "Megatron, right?"

The mech eyed her for a moment, then gave a hesitant nod. "That is what I am called on my world. How could you tell?"

"Your helmet. It's shaped like his." Maria shrugged. "We kinda call him 'Buckethead' because of that helmet."

"I am familiar with that title," the mech -- Megatron -- responded. "It has been pointed in my direction many times." He looked around the crater he was standing in for a moment, then looked back up at the two figures. "Would you mind giving me some assistance?"

Wildfire leaned down and held out a servo. "Careful. Sand tends to slide under one's feet."

Megatron grasped the outstretched servo and started to pull himself up. He grunted when his feet suddenly sank into the grainy substance. "Indeed. I will need to clean out my gears later."

Eventually, Megatron was up and out of the crater, and Maria was able to see just how tall this alternate version was. Considering that Wildfire only came up to his shoulder, that meant this Megatron was probably as tall as the other one was -- which made sense, considering that the two were counterparts.

"So, I take it that means he's a villain on your world," Maria commented, motioning to be still knocked-out mech on the desert floor.

"You would be correct in that assumption, Maria," Megatron responded. He eyed the Reploid for a moment before turning his attention to Wildfire. "Smokescreen was sent through a portal of some kind because..." He hesitated for a moment, glancing over at the mech. "...we believe his leader is looking for more allies he could use to destroy me and my team. I didn't realize that he was looking for allies in alternate dimensions."

"So that _is_ Smokescreen," Maria stated, nodding. "I thought he looked familiar."

"As do you," Megatron responded, looking down at Maria. "Tell me; do you have anything against the language German?"

 _"Deutsch?"_ Maria's eyebrows went up in surprise. _"Du_ _kennst das?"_

Megatron blinked a couple times, looking somewhat surprised. "Only a little bit, unfortunately. So speaking this language doesn't activate any kind of programming within you?"

The Reploid and the femme froze when they heard that, and they exchanged glances.

"There's someone in your dimension that does?" Wildfire asked carefully.

"Correct."

Before Maria could ask anything about what this person was like (or about which side he or she was on), Smokescreen started to stir, groaning. Wildfire quickly moved before he could get up and knocked him in the helm. The mech collapsed again, but not without a large dent in the side of his helm.

"We should probably take you two with us back to base," Wildfire commented, turning to look at Megatron. "I'm not about to let this sucker wander around free and ruin everything that Optimus has managed to do."

Megatron stiffened at that, and instantly became wary. "You wouldn't happen to mean Optimus Prime, would you?"

"Yeah, that's right." Wildfire paused when she saw Megatron's optics widen. "Why?"

"W-well...." Megatron trailed off. "You mentioned that the Decepticons are the ones who were attacking the humans, correct?"

Wildfire nodded in response.

"What of...their leader?"

"Buckethead?" Maria quipped, rising up on her hoverboard to be more eye-to-eye with the mech.

"He was a gladiator from Kaon," Wildfire explained. "He disliked the Cybertronian castes -- as did many of us -- and he was planning on changing that. However, he changed before the war started. He gained the motto 'peace through tyranny' and was dead-set on taking over himself."

"Optimus -- or Orion Pax, back then -- had been friends with him for a while, but they ended up at odds with each other when Orion was named Prime, rather than Megatron," Maria added. "Optimus kept with what he felt and knew to be right, while Megatron went after Dark Energon and corrupted pretty much every single member of the Decepticons with it."

The Megatron in front of them looked startled at that. "Oh, dear...I knew from Cliffjumper that I was usually seen as a rather dangerous mech in other universes, but I had no idea that it would get to be that awful." He paused. "So...your Optimus is...trustworthy?"

"I'd trust that librarian with my life," Wildfire said, nodding.

Megatron blinked, then gave a nod in response. "All right, then. Considering that I am trespassing in your universe, it would only be right if I allowed you to take the lead for now. Where are we heading?"

"We have a base over in that direction." Wildfire jabbed a digit back the way she and Maria had come from. "You've got an alt mode, right? Can it handle some heavy lifting?"

Megatron nodded. "I do and I can."

"Kay, because I don't think I can drag this guy in my alt." Wildfire nudged the unconscious mech.

Megatron gained a thoughtful expression at that. "I can deploy a net of sorts from my alternate form."

"Sounds good!" Maria chirped. "I'll go ahead and let them know we're coming back."

"Make sure Joshua knows about it," Wildfire added. "He might be able to help figure out what's going on."

"Right." Maria nodded, then reached for her left ear while Megatron gained a curious expression.

"Joshua?" Megatron asked.

"You didn't think that Optimus would avoid making allies with the humans when we've got your alternate baddy running around and causing havoc, did you?" Wildfire smirked at the mech. "Come on -- let's get you and this idiot back to base so we can figure out what to do with him."


	19. Chapter 19

When Wildfire and Maria entered the base with a winged helicopter that had a red Decepticon symbol emblazoned on the nose -- and an unconscious, oddly-painted Smokescreen with a purple Autobot symbol -- everyone in the hanger was instantly set on full alert.

And that included the Autobots who had returned from patrolling the area.

"Wildfire, what is the meaning of this?!" Ultra Magnus demanded, coming over to the femme and her partner. "You did not mention that you would be bringing a Decepticon!"

"Calm down, Ultra Magnus," Wildfire responded as the helicopter touched down. "We just found a couple dimensionally displaced Cybertronians, that's all."

"And roles are kinda reversed where they come from, according to what he's told us," Maria added from where she was standing on her hoverboard. "Is Optimus around?"

"He just returned with Smokescreen from their training session." The Wrecker sounded stiff, as usual. He turned and nodded back to the monitors, where the large Autobot was conversing with a certain medic.

"Kay. Thanks, Magnus!" Maria looked down at the helicopter. "Well, you may as well get this over with, right?"

The helicopter didn't offer a verbal response; instead, it transformed into the alternate version of Megatron.

"Megatron!" Ultra Magnus looked at the white, black-winged mech in shock, but it soon turned to anger as he activated his blasters. Most of the other Autobots in the area did the same.

"Hold, Ultra Magnus."

Optimus' rumble of a voice rolled over the group, causing the Wrecker to look back.

"Sir--"

"Wildfire has already explained that this mech is dimensionally displaced," Optimus continued, walking away from the monitors and over to where Wildfire and Maria were standing. "As he has yet to attack us, I believe that something in his dimension is far different from ours."

Megatron stared at Optimus in clear shock, not exactly looking like he was believing what he was seeing. He quickly recovered his composure a moment later. "My world is indeed different from yours. There, my Decepticons are defending those we can from the Autobots' tyranny. Recently, the Autobots decided to attempt to cross dimensions. I chased after the Elite Guard member Smokescreen personally in order to halt their plans, but I was trapped in this dimension in the process."

"I guess you could say that Smokescreen has an evil twin," Maria added, motioning to the unconscious form of the black-and-purple mech that Megatron had been dragging in a net.

"I have an evil twin?!" Smokescreen dashed out of the hangar, startling Megatron. The Autobot rookie moved close to the unconscious mech, looking at him closely. "Yeah...he _does_ look a lot like me."

"And I'm apparently supposed to be dead where they come from," Wildfire stated flatly in reply, sounding annoyed at the idea. "What's your point?"

"What might be your reasons for being here, Megatron?" Optimus inquired.

An involuntary shudder passed down Megatron's frame. "...Your counterpart is searching for new allies from other dimensions in order to destroy us. I took it upon myself to make sure to stop them before they managed to do any damage. However...it seems that I am now trapped here with no way to return."

"Don't be like that!"

Those gathered looked down at a small, yellow mech with glowing blue lines scattered across his frame.

"Maria's a World Jumper," Coil added, wings fluttering with excitement. "She could get you home in no time!"

Megatron frowned, then raised an optic ridge. "That's the second time someone's mentioned that title to me. Could you explain what exactly that means?"

"It's my title; I should probably be the one to do the honors," Maria responded, flying a little closer to Megatron. "A World Jumper is someone who can cross the dimensional walls and go to other worlds as easily as a Cybertronian can transform." The Reploid shrugged. "I happen to be one of those who can do it."

Megatron's blue optics widened in surprise. "Truly? You?" He pointed at Maria, as though he was looking for confirmation.

"My little partner has got a lot of tricks up her armored sleeves," Wildfire explained. "World Jumping is only the half of it."

"So, uh, what are we going to do with evil me?" Smokescreen asked from where he stood. "I mean, what are your evil Autobots like?" He frowned, and a shudder passed through his frame. "All right, that just sounded wrong."

Megatron glanced back at the young mech and gave a sigh before glancing back at Optimus. "You began as a librarian named Optronix in my dimension. I don't know how, but by backstabbing and assassinating repeatedly...Optronix gained a massing of like-minded mechs and femmes while also terrorizing the rest of the planet. Before, he was very cold and calculating, but something happened to him which has caused him to go insane."

Optimus' optics widened at this while the others exchanged looks of surprise and shock. "And the others present?"

"Ultra Magnus attempted to overthrow Optronix in order to take control of the Autobots himself, but his brother forcibly removed his faceplate and threw him into prison." Megatron looked like he was starting to get more comfortable with talking about his universe. "He escaped, but we haven't heard anything about him since."

Ultra Magnus touched his own faceplate for a moment, then exchanged looks with Optimus.

"Smokescreen is a member of the Elite Guard," Megatron continued, turning to look at Smokescreen.

"Well, at least that's still the same," the blue-and-yellow mech commented, doorwings twitching in thought.

"Optronix treats them as expendable soldiers. I doubt that he thought Smokescreen was going to come back from his mission."

Smokescreen's doorwings drooped, but then a frown came across his face. "There's no way that Optimus would treat anybody like that!"

"Smokescreen," Optimus responded, "I believe that there is an explanation for these changes in personality. As Megatron is presently demonstrating, he is not the mech that we know in this universe. It is highly possible that a different set of events caused the Autobots' and Decepticons' roles to switch in his universe. I cannot say that I am pleased to hear of the chaos that my counterpart is causing, but there is nothing that I personally can do about it."

Megatron nodded in agreement. "I've tried to send Decepticons through Time Spanners, but nothing in the present time has ever changed, even when they have returned claiming to have done something different. I have run over the calculations a hundred times, and yet we haven't been able to stop the war by changing the past alone."

"You've perfected time travel?" Ratchet gawked as he appeared from behind Optimus.

The reaction from Megatron was startling: he jumped back with a yelp of surprise that nearly caused him to trip over one of alternate Smokescreen's feet.

"What is it?" Maria asked, looking at Megatron in surprise. "Are you really that easily surprised?"

"I think he was more startled by Ratchet's presence," Wildfire commented dryly. "What's _his_ backstory?"

Megatron quickly regained his compose. "Ratchet? He's Optronix's head mad scientist. According to stories that I have heard from Sideswipe, it's said that Autobots are taken kicking and screaming into his medbay, and they usually come out with 'improvements,' as the mad doctor calls them. And that could be anything from a replaced helm to having all of your inner circuitry fused together."

The expression of pure horror that came over Ratchet's face clearly said how he felt about _that._

"You mentioned Sideswipe," Shape-Change spoke up suddenly. "Isn't he one of the Autobots, too?"

"He was, but then he changed over to our side when Optronix tried to have him killed," Megatron responded. He frowned slightly. "And you go by the name of...."

"Shape-Change. I'm a shifter."

"Shifter?" Megatron blinked in confusion. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that type of Cybertronian."

Shape-Change wordlessly raised an optic ridge, and then her entire form blurred before she became an exact copy of Wildfire. "I would have thought that you would be familiar with my kind. In this dimension, you had a shifter named Makeshift under your command, working as a spy among the Autobot ranks." She shifted back to her normal form as Megatron stared at her in surprise.

Megatron had an expression of awe on his face. "I wasn't aware that such Cybertronians existed. I certainly haven't heard of any of their kind joining my ranks." He paused. "Then again, the Cliffjumper who I have come to know has mentioned many things that I had initially thought to not exist, such as Primus."

That particular statement got mixed reactions from the Autobots. Optimus looked especially surprised at this, gaining a strange expression for a moment before shifting back to a guarded expression.

"That's pretty surprising."

Maria looked down when she heard her father's voice, catching sight of Morgen standing next to Coil.

"I mean, this dimension's Megatron took his name from one of the original Thirteen Primes," Morgen added. "His fans just shortened 'Megatronus' by a syllable, and it stuck." He frowned a bit. "Speaking of which, we should probably call you something different while you're around here. If the government hears we've got a Megatron on base, they're probably gonna think it's the Buckethead the Autobots have been fighting against."

Arcee nodded in agreement, only to do a double-take a moment later. "Wait. You know a mech named Cliffjumper?"

Megatron blinked at the question, then nodded. "Yes. He is a rather paranoid little mech from an alternate dimension similar to this one -- where the Autobots are allies and the Decepticons are enemies. He gave us access to the glass gun technology that has allowed us to keep Optronix on Cybertron for as long as we have." He paused. "Is it possible that you are...missing this Cliffjumper?"

Arcee blinked at the question, then looked away, shaking her helm. "Cliffjumper was offlined by Starscream."

"Oh. My condolences." Megatron bowed his helm, then paused. "You say _Starscream_ offlined Cliffjumper? I hope you'll pardon me when I say that I find that rather hard to believe."

Optimus placed a servo on Megatron's shoulder, causing the mech to stiffen a little. "Perhaps it would be wiser if I caught you up on our events before you explain to us what has happened on your world." He motioned for Megatron to follow him, and he stepped away from the hangar. The dimensionally-displaced Decepticon hesitated for a moment, then gave a slight nod and followed after Optimus and off the base a short distance.

Ratchet watched them go for a moment, then looked down at the unconscious Autobot Megatron and Wildfire had dragged in. He let out an irritated sigh, then turned and looked at Wildfire. "You brought them here. You're going to help me get _him_ strapped down onto a berth so that I know he won't be escaping and causing any havoc anytime soon."

Wildfire raised an optic ridge at the demand, and when Ratchet started to reach behind him, she said quickly, "I'm not going to say that I'm against helping, but--"

"But nothing! Now help me!"

Wildfire gained a moody expression, but she did as the medic asked, hooking her arms under the alternate-dimension Smokescreen's while Ratchet grabbed the mech's feet. The two of them then carried him into the hangar and into the medbay.

"Well, this is going to be interesting," Morgen commented as the Autobots reluctantly moved away from the hangar entrance -- Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee drove off together, no doubt to pick up their charges.

Maria lowered herself and her hoverboard to the ground, stepping down onto the asphalt. "What do you mean, Dad?"

"Well, if we're getting doubles suddenly popping in, I think that there's definitely going to be a need for a World Jumper." Morgen gained a knowing look. "They could be having that level of trouble back where they came from, you know."

"Well, if that evil Smokescreen doppleganger came out here because his leader is looking for other baddies, I'd definitely count that as trouble," Maria agreed. She frowned. "But, Dad...these guys are from an alternate reality from ours. I never really thought that something like this was ever going to happen to us."

"Well, it seems to happen a good deal in most other places. Sure it's unexpected, but not completely." Morgen placed a hand on his daughter's head and mussed up her hair a little. "We're gonna have to find a way to deal with this particular problem, though, and I think that Joshua is already starting to work on something."

"I'm not surprised." Maria's voice took on a dry tone as she pushed her father's hand off her head. "He said that he'd already known about a space/time anomaly when I told him we were coming back with a couple Cybertronians from another world. I guess he noticed it this morning, before he came back with you guys."

"Now that you mention it, he was really eager to get back here." Morgen gained a thoughtful expression as he rubbed his chin. "Maybe he was planning on studying it or something as soon as he got the chance. Jolt being out cold like that, though, probably put those plans on hold."

"They certainly did."

Morgen and Maria turned and looked at Joshua as he stepped out of the hangar.

"He is awake now, but it doesn't look like he's planning on leaving the base anytime soon," Joshua added. "Which means that I won't be able to go to the initial landing site of the alternate Megatron and Smokescreen. Hopefully, when Optimus and Megatron return, I'll be able to figure out more of what's going on."

Maria hummed in agreement. "Maybe we can get something out of that alternate Smokescreen when he wakes up."

Joshua glanced back into the hangar. "Dark Smoke will definitely be interesting to talk to, that's for sure."

"Dark Smoke?" Morgen repeated.

"Liz came up with it." Joshua shrugged. "It seems to fit, considering how dark his armor is."

Maria frowned for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. I wonder how he got to be on his side on his world....Shoot, now I can't remember the name of the nasty mech who's leading them."

"Optronix," Morgen supplied helpfully.

"Thanks, Dad." Maria gave Morgen a smile and a nod before she regained her frowning expression. "Optronix...it's weird, how that name sounds. It's like Optimus', but not really. Like just twisting his name changes how you look at him."

"Well, _we_ haven't seen him," Joshua pointed out. "And I find it highly unlikely that most of us ever will."

"Most of us?" Maria raised an eyebrow at her cousin.

"You're going to have to take him back there, and I don't doubt that you're going to want to bring others with you." Joshua gave Maria a meaningful look. "You are a World Jumper, after all."

"Well, yeah, I know that." Maria paused, then added, "But we're going to have to see what exactly it is that's going on in that other dimension before anything else. I mean, everything's flipped and warped from what we know. The Decepticons are good guys, Optronix is apparently _insane,_ and Ratchet's the mad scientist!"

"Don't forget that part about Sideswipe changing sides," Morgen noted. "That was a pretty big surprise. I didn't think that prankster would ever do something like that, but I guess some things change in different dimensions."

Maria nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Khrista and Joshua actually found an alternate Mobius. The Sonic who was there actually acted a lot more like Shadow than I'd thought he would."

"He called himself Quill," Joshua spoke up. He gained a thoughtful expression. "I wonder how he's getting along right now. Hopefully, Kintobar hasn't managed to get his hands on their version of the Chaos Emeralds. Quill wouldn't be very happy if he did."

"I don't think anyone would in any dimension," Maria pointed out. "Reversed or not." She looked around for a moment. "Let's head back in for a bit. Fowler's probably going to be here soon, and he might want to know about what's going on. Especially when he sees our visitors."

Morgen looked a little amused for a moment, then gained a more serious expression as he nodded in agreement. "Sounds good. There's no telling how angry or crazed that man's going to get when he hears about this."

"Mr. Carlsdale, I would have thought that you'd have a little more respect for him," Joshua said, raising an eyebrow.

Morgen gained a dry smirk. "Well, I've done some traveling, remember? World Jumpers have to come up with a way to deal with the madness that they face on different worlds -- including their own!" With that, he turned and walked back into the hangar. Maria and Joshua, after exchanging looks, followed after him a moment later.


	20. Chapter 20

Fowler was, of course, beyond words when he discovered that not only were there two more Cybertronians on the base, but they were from an _alternate dimension_ where the _Decepticons_ were the _good guys,_ to use Morgen's words _._

Seeing Dark Smoke and Smokescreen in the same hangar at once wasn't quite enough to cause him to go into shock, but seeing Optimus return with Megatron was definitely what pushed him over the edge.

"You're telling me that the whole crazy multiverse theory is actually _true?!"_ Fowler looked back and forth between Optimus, the alternate Megatron (who had suggested that he be called Tronus for now), and Maria and Morgen.

"Pretty much." Maria shrugged. "I already knew it was real anyway, since I ran into a group of alternate Autobots working with the Justice League, but I wasn't expecting _this_ to happen." She nodded up to Tronus. "I knew that there were some places that had contact with reversed characters, but this wasn't something I had foreseen."

"To be completely honest, _I_ had not been expecting to meet friendly Autobots in such large numbers," Tronus responded. "I have been used to running from and fighting against your faction more than I would care to admit."

Optimus placed a servo on Tronus' shoulder. "The same could be said for us and the Decepticons. We will help you in any way we can, but I fear that may be limited."

"Any help would be appreciated." Tronus nodded to Optimus. "However, I fear that my knowledge of Optronix's _plans_ are limited. We could interrogate the Autobot I followed here, but the Elite Guard are considered to be his grunts. It's possible he was only given a version of the plan -- out of which only a part might be true."

"Well, how do you suggest getting the info out of him?" Fowler looked over at the now-empty berth, where Dark Smoke had been lying sometime earlier. Jolt, Ratchet, and Joshua had moved him onto a spare berth in one of the other hangars, so that they would be able to talk about events without the possibility of Dark Smoke waking up and overhearing anything.

"Considering where he's come from, he's probably used to all sorts of interrogation techniques," Fowler added, giving Tronus a pointed look.

Tronus shook his helm. "Despite what you know of us, my faction of Decepticons is not made up of warriors for the most part. I was a teacher of mathematics before the war, and Starscream was a scientist in Crystal City -- in fact, his refusal to join Optronix resulted in the entire city's destruction in my dimension. Sideswipe is most certainly a warrior, but he was one of Optronix's front liners -- not an interrogator." He paused. "However, there is one thing that all the Autobots are afraid of facing." He looked over at Ratchet, who looked back with with a blank expression before his optics widened.

"Me?" Ratchet asked, pointing at himself.

Tronus nodded. "As I mentioned before, you are their head mad scientist. Sideswipe said that Autobots would rather go without medical treatment than even set foot in your medbay for fear of coming out with something irrevocably changed -- usually for the worse."

Jolt shuddered a bit. "Sounds kind of like Shockwave...."

Tronus blinked at that, then looked over at Optimus.

"He is the Decepticon's mad scientist," Optimus explained. "Recently, he has been put to work attempting to revive an army of Predacons for Megatron's use. We have yet to hear or see if his experiments have been successful."

"He likes taking things apart in order to see how they work," Wildfire added. She looked over at Jolt. "He's cold, calculating, and has no emotions that we know of."

"Quite the opposite from the Shockwave that I know," Tronus commented. "He is an ambassador in my dimension, and is probably the only other mech on my team besides Cliffjumper who believed in Primus initially. And he is _very_ much emotional." He paused. "By contrast, the Ratchet of my dimension most _certainly_ has emotions, and he hardly ever stops smiling. It seems that he considers his...' _upgrades'_ favors for his patients, and he loves to experiment on whoever happens to wander into his medbay. Wheeljack, his assistant and fellow scientist, is even more crazed, having an extremely short fuse which can be set off at any moment."

Wheeljack looked startled at that. "What, seriously? I mean, I know I can be a bit of a grump sometimes, but--"

"That's besides the point," Fowler said harshly. "Can't we do anything _now_ about that Dark Smoke guy you've got in the next hangar over?"

Tronus blinked calmly at that, then looked over at Ratchet. "What I am getting at is this: if Dark Smoke sees a version of his Ratchet who is nearly identical -- except for perhaps, his armor and a number of other quirks -- he might be more willing to inform us of everything he knows. All I am asking is that he be given a scare. Can I count on you to do that?"

Ratchet looked surprised at the suggestion, while the others present exchanged looks. The medic frowned a bit, then gained a thoughtful expression as he looked over at the empty berth.

"I suppose I could...give it a _try,"_ Ratchet commented finally. "I have no promises that I'll be able to terrify him, however."

Morgen grinned and rubbed his hands together. "You're just going to need the right atmosphere. And I've got a good idea as to what we can do, but we're going to have to move fast if we're going to be able to do it. Joshua, you got any random parts you have lying around?"

Joshua raised an eyebrow at the question. "Jolt and I do, yes. Why?"

"Well, we could have a number of rather nasty-looking experiments hanging from the walls to get the mad scientist atmosphere going!" Morgen's grin widened. "It's like decorating for Halloween on a grand scale, and way early!"

Maria stared at her father, then looked over at Kate. "Mom?"

"He might be onto something," Kate responded with a knowing expression. "A good actor is nothing without his stage, after all."

Maria gulped a bit when she saw Morgen turn and look at her. She was starting to get the sinking feeling that her father had something rather nasty in mind.

**Time Break**

Dark Smoke let out a groan as he started to come to, opening his red optics to a sight that was the _last_ thing that he wanted to see.

Ratchet, _singing,_ and preparing his tools of medical destruction. And all around them...it looked like one of the lower levels of Cybertron, with pipes and wires dangling from the walls and ceiling of the room! And, plugged into and dangling from the walls were...the remains of the neutral _gladiator team_ that had long-ago harassed the Autobots and Decepticons alike -- not to mention a small number of _humans_ who looked like they had been killed in the middle of being tortured, only to be stuffed and hung like trophies around the area!

Ratchet paused in singing his Cybertronian ditty and looked over at the strapped-down Autobot. The delighted grin that crossed his face was terrifying.

"Ah, the little Autobot's finally awake!" Ratchet crooned, moving over to stand over Dark Smoke, grinning at the mech.

"R-Ratchet?" Dark Smoke stammered, looking up at the medic. "What happened to your paint job? A-are you experimenting with something?"

"Hmmm?" Ratchet glanced down at himself, then chuckled. "No, no, this is my normal color scheme." He grinned widely. "Although, you are very curious indeed. You don't have a Spark, but something else that looks _very_ much like fire. I would very much like to see what would happen if I let Flare-Up get anywhere near it."

"F-flare-Up?" Dark Smoke looked like he was in even more of a panic.

"Just something I made up by putting together two beings for fun." Ratchet turned his head and barked, "Get over here! Now!"

Footsteps resounded, and a being came into Dark Smoke's view. His optics widened when he saw the flame-painted femme that he had seen right before he had been knocked out...as well as the small human with the similarly-painted armor, sitting on the femme's shoulder.

Ratchet chuckled again. "Oh, you recognize them, don't you?"

"T-them?" Dark Smoke repeated.

 **"We would appreciate it if you did not refer to us as stupid the next time you encounter us,"** the human and the femme spoke in an eerie unison.

Dark Smoke shuddered.

"Like them? I've tried similar combinations, but none of them worked until I figured out the secret I needed with the little one here." Ratchet moved a digit in front of the human's face, but her eyes didn't move. "I just had to connect their brains together, and there you are!" He turned to look at Dark Smoke, then made a wave in Flare-Up's direction. "As you were."

 **"Yes, Master."** Flare-Up turned and walked back with even, measured steps, disappearing from Dark Smoke's sight.

"Now, what am I going to do to you...." Ratchet rubbed his servos together, an eager expression coming over his face. "You know, I think I'd like to see what exactly makes you tick. That Spark of yours isn't like anything that I've seen before."

"I-it's called an Ember," Dark Smoke corrected shakily.

Ratchet's expression brightened -- almost like he understood what Dark Smoke was getting at. "An _Ember?_ Now, that makes a lot more sense!" A wide grin appeared on his face. "I think I would like to see it."

A pair of swords suddenly replaced the medic's hands, and Dark Smoke's optics widened. They widened to the point of coming out of his helm as Ratchet's dangerous blades got extremely close to his chest -- and his Ember.

**"RATCHET!!!"**

The medic froze. Dark Smoke felt like he was going to have an ember attack.

A large, red and blue, and _very angry_ Optimus Prime came into the med bay, blue eyes nearly electric with energy and anger.

"A-ah, h-hello, Optimus," Ratchet stated, turning to look at the Prime. "I was just about to start the dissection."

"You will start the dissection when _I_ say so, not before," Optimus growled darkly in response, gritting his denta at Ratchet. "We need him _alive_ if we're going to figure out where they went."

"I-I thought you were taking care of that no-good Decepticon!" Ratchet stated quickly, retracting his swords and stepping away from Dark Smoke quickly.

"He provided me with no... _helpful_ information." Optimus turned his gaze on Dark Smoke, who oh so _desperately_ wanted to get away from the Prime were it not for the fact that he was strapped down.

"Flare-Up," Optimus snapped. "Get over here, now."

 **"Yes, Master."** Flare-Up quickly appeared at the Prime's side.

"Now, Smokescreen, you will tell us where you came from, or else I will have Flare-Up slowly melt you from the inside out. Or would you rather I have _Jolt_ electrocute you instead?"

Dark Smoke gulped. "I-I came t-through a Dimension Spanner, okay?? R-ratchet is wo-wo-working the other end! A-a-all I gotta do is contact them, and they'll open it up again!"

Optimus's optics narrowed into slits. " _Why_ did you come here?"

"W-we're l-looking for more 'bots." Dark Smoke was seriously considering lubricating himself right at that moment. "P-prime sent me s-so th-that he could conquer other worlds b-beyond Cybertron. Th-that's everything I know! Please believe me!"

"Sparkseer." Optimus turned to look at one of the mechs that was strapped to the wall of the medbay with cables. "Truth or lie?"

The blue mech's optics flickered on faintly, and he gasped out a single word. "Truth...." The mech's optics flickered off.

Dark Smoke was getting _seriously_ creeped out. Some of these projects were still _alive?_ What kind of dimension _was_ this place??!

 **"Master, there is a human at the door,"** Flare-Up spoke up.

"Hey, Boss," a femme's voice called out lazily.

Optimus' optics flicked over as he turned to look in the direction of the med-bay's only exit.

"We saw what you did to Megs," the voice continued. "Think we can play with him a little?"

"Do what you want with him," Optimus growled back. "See if I care." He turned to look down at Dark Smoke, who was starting to become even more terrified by the minute.

"All right. I'll make sure the boys leave you his head for your trophy collection this time."

Flare-Up watched the door for a moment longer, then turned her heads to look at Optimus, as though awaiting orders. Dark Smoke didn't want to know what exactly those orders might end up being.

"Please...l-let me live," he sputtered weakly, not liking the look that was on Optimus' face.

Ratchet snorted in the background. "Pu-leese," he repeated in a mock of Dark Smoke's voice. "We already _have_ a Smokescreen. What use would we have of _two?_ "

"Ratchet," Optimus growled warningly in response, glaring at the medic. "Shut. Up."

The medic said nothing in response, and actually looked a little nervous.

It was at this point that a small voice spoke up from one corner of the room.

"Optimus? Ratchet? Y-you're kinda scaring me...and I think he's said everything, too...."

As if that was a signal of some kind, Ratchet, Optimus, and Flare-Up _shifted_ suddenly, as though a great weight had just been lifted from their shoulders.

Sparkseer's position shifted in the wall, as well, his optics flickering to life again. "He is scared to the point that he might go into a Spark attack. I fear this may have worked a little _too_ well."

Dark Smoke started looking horribly confused -- especially when Optimus gained a _tired_ expression and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly willing to keep this charade going," spoke up the Cybertronian half of Flare-Up. Dark Smoke stiffened when he heard one voice speak, rather than the two.

Dark Smoke started stuttering. "Wh-what is--"

"Did you really think that you have wandered into a dimension that was almost exactly like yours?" Ratchet spoke up, sounding annoyed. "We were _acting,_ you stupid youngling."

"A-acting?" Dark Smoke looked like he was starting to slip into shock and relief -- both because he really _wasn't_ going to be chopped to pieces, and because he now had no idea what was going to happen next. He swallowed nervously, then stiffened when he heard metal shifting somewhere in the room.

"So, what are we going to do with him?" Shape-Change appeared in Dark Smoke's line of vision, startling him. "It's obvious that he doesn't know anything about what his leader is planning, and we can't let him go free."

"Agreed," Optimus intoned. Dark Smoke gained a wide-eyed expression when he heard how _tired_ the Prime sounded. "We will have to discuss events with Tronus and the others in order to proceed."

"W-wait!" Dark Smoke flinched back when the optics and eyes of those present were turned to look at him suddenly. It took a moment for him to find his voice. "Y-you're just...gonna leave me here? You're not gonna...do anything to me?"

His voice came out as a whimper, and he inwardly cursed himself for his weakness.

" _Do_ anything to you?" Wildfire snorted. "According to what we've heard, we're nothing like your dimension's Autobots."

"Indeed," Sparkseer agreed as he disentangled himself from the pipes and wires that had been surrounding him. He carefully removed a male human from the mess as well, adding, "Considering the circumstances, it is more likely that we are similar to your dimension's Decepticons."

Dark Smoke's optics widened as soon as he heard _that._ "Wh-what? But...that's impossible! There's no way that the Autobots could ever act like the Decepticons!"

"Maria?" Wildfire prompted, looking at the figure on her shoulder.

The Reploid cocked her head to one side, her eyes almost seeming to glow slightly in the dark room. "The Multiverse is certainly vast. It's actually large enough that one's counterparts can end up in situations previously thought to be impossible. For example, this Ratchet is grouchy, irritable, but also kind-hearted underneath all that armor. He is also an _actual_ medic, despite what your dimension might have taught you."

Ratchet sent Maria a glowering look, and she gave him a slight smile in return.

Dark Smoke looked thrown off by this. "Wh-what?"

"We probably shouldn't tell him more than that," Jolt spoke up as he and Joshua came over. The mech looked somewhat uneasy at being in the area. "Let's just pull this stuff down; we've still got some plans for some of this."

Sparkseer nodded.

"Th-this still doesn't make any sense!" Dark Smoke protested. "I was told that I'd be able to find allies that Optimus would--"

"Perhaps you were not given the information involved in his true plan," Sparkseer responded.

"For now, get this in your head," Wildfire spoke up. "Yes, you're in an alternate dimension. You just traveled to a world where everything you know is reversed. We were just acting so that we could figure out what exactly it was that you knew about."

Dark Smoke continued to stare with wide optics; it was clear that he was having trouble figuring out everything that was going on.

Optimus considered the mech's expression for a moment. "You do not need to be afraid; you will not be harmed here. However, we do not know yet what exactly we will do with you. That will have to be discussed."

Dark Smoke stared at Optimus with an expression of confusion, not having expected the Prime to say such things in such a calm, _wise_ voice. Still, there was some underlying fear -- if _his_ leader had another plan, how big of a part was he actually playing?

Jolt looked over at Sparkseer and Wildfire. "Mind giving me some help getting this stuff down?"

"I don't see a problem with it," Matthew spoke up. He pulled off the red-stained T-shirt he had been wearing, revealing a plain white undershirt. "At least I don't have to wear this shirt from my zombie costume anymore."

Maria made a face at him as Wildfire looked at the Reploid on her shoulder. "I don't see why you even _wanted_ to make a costume like that in the first place."

Matthew shrugged. "Hey, _Walking Dead_ is all the rage at school." He looked up at Sparkseer and gave a nod, prompting the large mech to move towards the walls. Wildfire, Jolt, and Shape-Change moved away moments later, and the sound of metal scraping against the walls soon filled the area.

Dark Smoke continued to look up at Ratchet and Optimus with wide optics while his core slowly relaxed as he realized that he wasn't going to be cut to pieces. "So you're not planning on offlining me."

Ratchet snorted at the statement while Optimus shook his helm.

"We do not offline others on a whim," Optimus said. "We will not offline you."

Dark Smoke relaxed completely at that.

"However, we will not let you wander about freely, as we have heard of what your faction has done to your Cybertron -- and, subsequently, your Earth. You will remain here until we are certain that you will not be followed, or, we have discovered a way to send you back to your home dimension."

Dark Smoke stiffened. "You're going to what?! No!"

All movement in the area paused; the Cybertronians who had been taking down the pipes and wires from the walls looked back at Dark Smoke, Ratchet, and Optimus.

"If I go back, Goldbug is going to kill me!"


	21. Chapter 21

Maria's armor shifted back to its normal coloring as she cracked her neck. Giving a smirk and a nod to Wildfire, the Reploid turned and looked over at Miko, Jack, and Raf, who had various looks of eagerness, caution, and curiosity on their faces. "Okay. So you guys have met our friendly Decepticon now, right?"

Miko nodded, then gained a pouting expression. "I didn't think that he was a math teacher...."

"I think it's interesting what kinds of things can happen in different dimensions," Raf remarked thoughtfully. "Like what Dark Smoke sounds like. It's almost like he's one of the lesser villains you hear about in comic books."

Miko nodded in agreement. "Yeah. The ones that could follow the good guys around for a bit, then betray them at the worst possible moment." She sighed and shook her head. "It's too bad that Smokey had to turn out like _that."_

Jack shook his head. "This is a bit too much for me to wrap my head around. I mean, an alternate dimension where the Autobots are _evil?_ I don't even want to think about what _my_ counterpart is like!"

"I have yet to arrive on Earth, but the humans which I have come into contact with aren't that bad," Tronus offered from above them. "I am...unsure about your counterparts, but I am sure that there are still some kind humans in my universe."

"But what if they're _bad guys_ from this one?" Miko pointed out. "Like Silas?"

"You mean the former leader of MECH?" Joshua came over, wiping off gloved hands with a large, oil-stained rag. "It would be interesting to meet someone like that. Maybe MECH is working towards a peaceful, technological harmony in their dimension." He paused. "Although, that would mean that the US Government is actually playing the part of the villain, which is not quite such a pretty picture."

Maria nodded in agreement. "Yeah." She suddenly looked a bit uneasy. "And what about _me?_ What is _my_ counterpart like?" She paused. "If...if I'm a World Jumper...what does that make _her?_ "

That particular question got a number of mixed reactions from the others -- mostly leaning towards uneasy.

"It would probably be unwise to think of such things at the moment," Tronus finally commented. "Considering that there are some Autobots here that I have not heard of or seen before, it is likely that you do not have a counterpart in my universe."

Maria hummed nervously in response, folding her arms across her chest as she frowned. "Maybe...."

"Speaking of counterparts, what are we going to do with Dark Smoke?" Miko jabbed a thumb in the direction of the warehouse where the alternate dimension Smokescreen was being held. "Are you gonna take him back to your place? What's happening in your dimension, anyway? Have you made any human friends yet?"

Tronus shook his helm. "We have yet to reach this world in our dimension. For the moment, we have been focusing on keeping the Autobots from leaving Cybertron -- and, as a result, we have been forced to remain there, as well. However, I have heard much of Earth from Cliffjumper, so I am not quite as confused about this place as I might have been when Smokescreen and I had arrived."

"What's Cliffjumper like?" Maria asked, glad to have something to distract her. "We never got to meet the guy."

"Well, I highly doubt that the two of them are similar. The Cliffjumper I know is quite paranoid and is also shorter than the average mech. He was quite difficult to get along with at first, but he has -- begrudgingly, at first -- become a part of our team. If it were not for him, Optronix and the others might have reached Earth by this time, and their world would be in great danger as a result."

"How bad are they?"

The kids looked over at Nurse Darby, who paused when she saw the curious and surprised gazes of Maria and the others.

"You've told us about your versions of Ultra Magnus, Optimus, and Ratchet, but that can't be how all of them are like." The woman frowned. "Are they?"

Tronus hesitated, looking away from the Earthlings below him. "I am sorry to say that the Autobots of my world are far different from the Autobots of this one. While there are some who haven't entirely changed, most of the Autobots here...are the exact opposite of their treacherous, twisted counterparts."

"Most?" Raf repeated with surprise. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, there are some who have managed to remain neutral, despite the fact that there _is_ a war going on around them. Sparkseer's Gladiator Team is the most famous among them, causing trouble for both sides as they desperately try to stay out of the conflict -- and end up sabotaging quite a few things as a result."

"Gladiator Team?" Wildfire spoke up. She and Sparkseer came over, curious expressions on their faces.

"I hadn't thought that we would break off completely from both sides," Sparkseer continued. "We were too entrenched in the war before it even began."

"You mean, they _aren't_ part of the Autobots?" Maria asked in surprise. "You don't have to fight against a twisted version of Wildfire?"

"No; mostly because Wildfire had offlined during a particularly dark point in the war some time ago." Tronus looked at Wildfire somewhat apologetically. "You were infected with Dark Energon and subsequently went on a rampage. Sparkseer -- with some assistance from Starscream -- was forced to put you down at your insistence before you lost yourself."

Wildfire's optics widened for a moment before she gained a dark expression, and she looked over at Sparkseer, who also appeared to be somewhat grim.

"Do _they_ use Dark Energon?" Sparkseer inquired grimly.

Tronus understood who Sparkseer was referring to, and inclined his head in thought. "Sideswipe has mentioned it a few times -- mostly when he talks about his distaste for Optronix and how far the mech has fallen. He hasn't seen it himself, but he knows of its affects. I believe he attributes finding it to Optronix's becoming insane."

"That sounds like it could be true," Joshua remarked. "According to what we've discovered, Dark Energon is the blood of Unicron. I don't think anyone would be able to resist his influence for very long -- they'd get addicted to it instead."

"I think Mom and Dad compared it to a drug when they first heard about it," Maria agreed, nodding. She shuddered. "I definitely don't want to suffer from _that_ anytime soon, let me tell you!"

Tronus frowned. "Unicron? Are you referring to the mythical opposite of Primus?"

"Mythical?" Miko snorted. "You're standing on him!"

Tronus looked down at the hangar's floor in surprise.

"The Thirteen Primes defeated Unicron many centuries ago," Sparkseer explained. "Over time, he became covered over by many asteroids, which merged together and eventually became this particular world."

Maria murmured something that sounded a lot like "God had a lot to do with that."

"We had to fight him in order to keep him from waking up," Arcee added. "He shouldn't have to deal with him anytime soon."

Tronus, who had been stiffening out of alarm, relaxed somewhat when Arcee mentioned this. "Ah; I see. It would have been quite worrysome if he was still around to cause you trouble."

"We get enough of that from the Decepticons," Arcee replied, frowning disapprovingly.

Tronus frowned. "Well, yes, I suppose...."

A loud alarm suddenly started coming from the monitor, causing Tronus to stiffen while Ratchet quickly moved to find out what was setting off the alarm.

"We have Decepticon activity in the area!" the medic warned. "And it's in the same area where Wildfire and Maria found our dimensionally-displaced companions!"

"What would they want there?" Wildfire frowned. "There's nothing there except for a large crater."

"There could still be residual energies left behind from when Tronus and Dark Smoke arrived here," Joshua spoke up suddenly. "Their ship could have picked up the energy signature as soon as they arrived in the area, and they could have sent down a crew of Decepticons to investigate."

"Well, that's not gonna bother us," Miko commented, smirking.

"Actually, it could." Joshua wagged a finger warningly. "They could follow trace amounts of that energy here and find the base -- or, they could find out a way to replicate the energy and eventually manage to break through to an alternate dimension -- much like the Autobots in Tronus' dimension have."

"That sounds somewhat farfetched," Sparkseer remarked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "It would take a large amount of trial and error in order to find the source of only a trace of energy that could have been found."

"Not unless you're Shockwave."

The group turned when the heard Jolt's grim tone of voice.

"He can clone ancient CNA and bring extinct beasts to life," Jolt continued. "He's done unethical experiments on both Autobots _and_ Decepticons." He paused for a moment, then continued in a shaky voice, "He is even capable of splitting a mech's Spark to experiment with creating life."

Coil, who was standing next to Jolt, looked up at the blue mech worriedly.

Tronus looked somewhat disturbed. "I am afraid that I cannot decide which is far worse: my dimension's Ratchet, or your dimension's Shockwave."

"We don't have _time_ to debate about who is worse," Ultra Magnus spoke up abruptly, approaching the group. "We must mobilize and attack the Decepticons before they can have a chance to do more damage than they have already."

"I could use a little warm-up," Wildfire spoke up, grinning.

Maria grinned. "I could--"

"No."

Maria stopped short, blinking in surprise as she looked up at Optimus Prime, who was standing at the hanger's entrance.

"While your techniques might be useful against the Decepticons, I highly doubt that it would be wise for them to learn of your existence," Optimus said. "It is even likely that they are aware of you already."

"Shockwave could be curious about you," Jolt piped up in agreement with a shudder. "And I don't want to see you get taken by him."

Maria paused at that, frowning slightly. After a moment, she let out a sigh and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that would probably be pretty bad...."

"Wildfire, Arcee, Sparkseer, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack." Optimus nodded to each of the Autobots in turn. "I require your assistance."

"Sure." Wheeljack grinned wickedly. "I'm looking forward to smashing more Con heads."

Optimus turned and looked at Ratchet, who inputted the coordinates and opened the Ground Bridge, allowing the six Autobots to run through towards their destination.

As soon as the group was gone, Ratchet shut down the Ground Bridge, then turned to face the monitor again, pulling up what looked like a chemical formula of some kind. Joshua and Jolt joined him a moment later, and they started discussing something quietly among themselves.

Tronus looked over at them curiously for a moment before looking back at the others present. "Those three are planning something involving Energon, are they not?"

Maria looked over at the three for a moment, frowning slightly. "Are they...? I don't know; I'm not really all that science-y."

Arcee glanced over at the monitor that Ratchet, Jolt, and Joshua were looking over. Her optics narrowed slightly, but she said nothing.

"I may be a mathematician, but my second-in-command is a scientist," Tronus responded. "And that looks like a corrupted version of natural Energon. Is it a weapon?"

"It is not," Ratchet called back, looking over his shoulder with an annoyed expression on his face. "We are experiencing Energon shortages, so we require Energon made synthetically. So far, we have had very little success in making proper Synthetic Energon."

"Yeah!" Miko piped up. "The last time Ratchet tried to do something like that, he ended up acting really weird -- like an adrenaline junkie!"

Tronus raised an optic ridge at the statement. "Adrenaline junkie?"

"Someone who lives for thrills," Matthew explained.

"I don't think we can necessarily call Ratchet on 'Synth-En' an adrenaline junkie," Joshua called over. "According to the list of symptoms he gave us, he became more reckless and acted more like--"

"I can give him my own diagnosis," Ratchet snapped. "I acted like I was a mech who had recently come from the Well of AllSparks and was going through an extremely reckless and rebellious phase. We are all lucky that Megatron did not succeed in killing me when I apparently decided to go after him."

"Apparently?" Tronus blinked.

"After he took his second dose of the stuff, his memories didn't decide to stick around," Arcee said. There was an almost reluctant tone in her voice as she spoke. "Next thing he knew, he was waking up in the medbay in our old base."

"I see...." Tronus trailed off, frowning. "That would make this...Synthetic Energon to be quite dangerous."

"In its present form of equation, yes," Ratchet replied.

"We're trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with it," Jolt added, "so that we can actually use it for something other than a decoy of some kind for the Decepticons to pick up and try to make use of." He paused, then frowned slightly. "You know...."

"I would not wish them to get their hands on it in its present form," Ratchet responded instantly. "Not only would they think themselves invincible, but they would loose all common sense! We might as well be giving them a different form of Dark Energon!"

Jolt flinched as Ratchet raised his voice. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry -- I wasn't thinking."

Ratchet huffed. "Indeed you were not."

"What _would_ Megatron on Synth-En be like?" Raf asked, considering the question.

Maria tried to picture it, and ended up shuddering -- as did Matthew, Raf, Jack, and Miko.

"I think that seeing that monster ramped up on the stuff when he already has Dark Energon would be a very bad combination," Maria commented. "I mean, he _normally_ acts like he's invincible, right?"

"It's more like he does know, and he's using Unicron's Blood to gain an extra edge that he never had in the gladiator rings," Shape-Change replied. "He was already known planet-wide as the strongest gladiator in Kaon -- and one of the few who was willing to speak his mind about the caste system and how he felt about it."

"Optimus mentioned briefly that my counterpart had been risen in those circumstances," Tronus commented. "I can't help but feel slightly...uneasy at the thought that my counterpart is far more experienced in war that I ever have been."

"How do you think we feel, hearing that your dimension's Autobots are like our Decepticons?" Arcee responded.

"It is disconcerting to know that my counterpart and Optimus were not on the best of terms," Ultra Magnus added stiffly. Maria noticed that one of his servos twitched, moving upward for a moment before it was slowly returned to his side. The Reploid figured that he had been thinking about reaching for his face again -- Tronus' story of his own world had obviously set the entire group off.

Maria frowned. "You know, there's one thing that you mentioned earlier to Wildfire and me that you still haven't explained."

Tronus turned his helm to regard the Reploid. "What do you mean?"

"When we found you, you asked me about how I responded to _Deutsch._ Can you explain now why that is?"

Morgen and Katie exchanged looks at their daughter's statement, while Tronus frowned.

"My apologies; that had slipped my mind when I had arrived here at your base. The reason I had asked that question is because you look very similar to a Mini-Con that the Autobots of my dimension have in their ranks."

"Mini-Con?" Liz repeated.

"Small Cybertronians," First Aid explained. "Usually, they aren't much bigger than the average human child, and they are usually used as spies, from what I've heard."

"They usually aren't seen with very much respect," Shape-Change added. "Soundwave has a few he deploys, such as Lazerbeak, but they're the only ones that I've seen or heard close up."

Tronus nodded. "There is an Autobot named Blaster who has a small group of his own, as well." He paused, then continued, "The Mini-Con I speak of is usually given orders in the language that has been referred to as either German or _Deutsch,_ but it has been proven that she can understand and speak English. However, she can only follow orders or conversations properly if they're spoken to her in that other language. Most of the Autobots can speak it fluently. I had wished to bring her over to our side, but Sideswipe has told me many times that she would go back over to the Autobots as soon as she was within hearing range."

Maria felt like her core had grown slightly cooler. "You're saying that...she's under their control?"

"So it seems."

"I really hope doing that bites them in the back someday," Khrista spoke up suddenly. "They shouldn't be doing that to people, Mini-Con or not."

"Why did you ask me if I was affected the same way, though?" Maria asked, frowning. "I may be armored, but I'm clearly not a Mini-Con."

"I can see that now, but from a distance, you do look very much like the Mini-Con that the Autobots have in their possession," Tronus replied.

"Hang on." Miko looked up at the dimensionally-displaced Decepticon. "If this Mini-Con looks like Maria from a distance, what's to say that it is her?"

"Huh?" Maria looked at Miko in surprise while the others stared at the Japanese girl.

"You guys said that people have counterparts in other dimensions, right?" Miko turned and looked at Maria with a surprisingly serious expression. "Then maybe this Mini-Con Tronus is talking about is yours!"


	22. Chapter 22

_ "You guys said that people have counterparts in other dimensions, right?" Miko turned and looked at Maria with a surprisingly serious expression. "Then maybe this Mini-Con Tronus is talking about it yours!" _

Maria stared at Miko with a surprised expression, blinking a couple times. "Wh-what?"

"You think that the Mini-Con is Maria's counterpart?" Khrista looked at Maria for a moment, frowning. "Well...I dunno...."

"It makes sense, though," Miko insisted. "I mean, you've got that...well, that thing that Wildfire showed us, and she's got an entire language ordering her around!"

"That can't be something that makes the two of them counterparts," Raf pointed out. "There are all kinds of people who probably have similar coincidences who aren't counterparts."

"Besides, this Mini-Con isn't even human," Mrs. Darby pointed out. "They can't be counterparts if they aren't the same species, right?"

"I think everyone's got a counterpart in most universes," Morgen responded. "There are some places that don't have humans living on them, so your counterpart might be of a different species." He looked over at Kate knowingly, and his wife nodded in agreement.

"There are some places that have people who look like humans, but they have some differences," Kate added. "Usually physical ones, like long, pointed ears."

Maria was tempted to reach for her own ears at that, but then she decided against it. "But, how would anyone know when they meet their counterpart? I mean, would something happen?"

"Having two of the same person in the same place at the same time might cause some damage to that area," Joshua said, stepping away from the Synthetic Energon formula. Jolt and Ratchet were watching what was going on, as well, not looking like they were at all interested in continuing their work for the moment. "Or, there might be a reaction of some kind when the two come into contact with each other."

Khrista snorted. "You _would_ think that, but I don't think so."

Arcee raised an optic ridge while Shape-Change nodded knowingly. "What makes you say that?"

Khrista paused. "Let's just say that I met a counterpart, and I didn't see the world tear itself from limb from limb, and I didn't get zapped by any kind of reaction, either."

Maria whirled on Khrista with an expression of surprise. When she saw the grim look that was on Khrista's face, the question that Maria was about to ask died in her throat.

"When did you meet your counterpart?" Miko asked eagerly.

"Not too long ago. She was younger than she looked, but she was pretty smart." Khrista paused, then added in a more subdued tone, "She saved my life."

Maria blinked at the statement, wanted to ask and know more about what had happened, but decided against asking about it because of the look that was on her friend's face.

"Whoa...." Miko looked more amazed than anything else.

Raf looked curious. "How old was she?"

"Nine. She looked like she was fifteen and acted like it, too." Khrista smiled a little at the memory.

"If we can get back to the task at hand," Ratchet spoke up impatiently. "Not only do we have visitors from another dimension, but the war there is reversed _and_ our counterparts there seem to have control over a possible counterpart of Maria's. How exactly is this supposed to be of any consequence to us? I do not see how this Mini-Con could affect us in any way, shape, or form."

There came a crackling noise from the comm system, and Optimus' voice came through. _::Ratchet, we require a Ground Bridge::_

Ratchet turned when he heard the Prime's voice, nodding slightly. "I assume you succeeded in keeping the Decepticons away from the landing site?"

_ ::That and more. We will be coming back with another visitor. I would suggest not being alarmed when we arrive. He...is very different from the Decepticon we know:: _

Tronus looked over when he heard that. "Another one of my Decepticons has made it here? Who?"

_ ::He calls himself your 'morale officer':: _ Wildfire replied in a dry tone of voice.

Ratchet stiffened, optics widening.

A broad grin stretched across Tronus' face. "So they _did_ get my message! Marvelous!"

"You mean, your team?" Maria asked, looking up at the displaced Decepticon.

"Indeed. I had hoped that they would be able to do something about the Autobots' plans, and it seems that they might have! Bring him here, Ratchet -- and quickly!"

Ratchet recovered from his shock, shaking his helm as he pulled on the lever. "Please let it not be Sideswipe...."

Tronus blinked as the Ground Bridge roared to life. "Sideswipe? Why do you think the Decepticon they spoke of is him?"

"He and Sunstreaker are our 'unofficial morale officers'," Arcee responded dryly. "They were known to set off pranks regularly."

Tronus looked like he was absorbing that for a moment, then shook his helm. "Sideswipe is one of the more serious mechs I know. My morale officer is...different."

Maria frowned, but before she could ask Tronus what exactly it was that he meant, a boxy, white-and-blue Cybertronian with a yellow headband tied around the top of his helm came bounding through the Ground Bridge -- and barreled straight for Tronus, hugging him tightly.

"Megzy! Dude, we'd almost thought we'd lost ya for good!" the mech exclaimed.

Tronus laughed as Optimus, Wildfire, Sparkseer, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack came through the Ground Bridge. "You should know by now that I am more than capable of handling myself, Sir Soundwave."

_ "Soundwave?!" _ came the cry from various Autobots and humans.

The boxy mech turned when he heard the various shocked voices, somehow managing to look like he was smiling despite the white faceplate and yellow visor he had over his face. "Hi, friendly Auto-dudes and humans! Nice to meet ya!"

Miko's jaw dropped. "Whoa...I didn't think Soundwave's counterpart looked and acted like _this."_

Morgen elbowed his wife, grinning. "It's like meeting Jazz all over again."

Katie gave a pained smile in response.

"I happen to like being called _Sir_ Soundwave, though," Sir Soundwave added. "Just to kinda, y'know, make sure you guys know the difference between me and...the other guy."

Maria couldn't help but look a little amused at the disgusted tone of voice Sir Soundwave had taken on.

"Did you... meet 'the other guy'?" Liz asked.

"We ran into him when we found this guy," Wildfire responded, nodding to Sir Soundwave.

The friendly Decepticon nodded. "Yeah! And man, that dude's a creep! He looked like something Ratchet put together -- no offense, Doc." He nodded to Ratchet.

The medic scowled, then sighed and waved a servo. "None taken. That wasn't me you were referring to, necessarily."

"But that Elite Guard guy we picked up would probably beg to differ," Arcee pointed out dryly.

Ratchet's scowl deepened while Sir Soundwave looked between the two of them.

"Do you mean that Smokescreen kid the crazy Doc sent off?" Sir Soundwave asked. "You actually _caught_ him?"

"Well, I did," Wildfire corrected.

"We just haven't quite figured out what we're going to do with him yet," Maria added. When Sir Soundwave looked down at her, she added quickly, "I mean, whether we're going to have him as a prisoner, or whether we're going to send him back with a message saying 'leave us alone'."

Sir Soundwave stared at her for a minute, then looked back at Optimus. "That's the World Jumper Wildfire was telling me about?"

"Indeed," the Prime replied.

"...OP, this kid is _tiny._ I don't see how she could have been the one to do all the stuff Wildfire said she was doing!"

Optimus looked either amused or annoyed by what their visitor had called him.

Morgen burst out laughing. "This guy is sounding more and more like Jazz by the minute! I really wish that guy was here -- you guys could probably talk about music for hours!"

That statement got Sir Soundwave's attention. _"Music?_ Him? Really? I didn't think the dude was into that stuff!"

"Maybe not in your dimension, but he definitely is in ours," Kate responded. "We haven't heard from him recently, though."

"Knowing him, he'll probably be coming around as soon as he finds out where exactly it is that we landed," Ratchet replied.

"He was attached to Earth's music long before any of us got here," Sparkseer agreed, nodding.

"Whoa. Now I'm wishing that I could have _really_ met this guy," Sir Soundwave said, sounding amazed.

Tronus cleared his throat. "Sir Soundwave, what is happening in our home dimension? Do you have any news of the Autobots' movements?"

Sir Soundwave turned abruptly to face Tronus, giving the taller mech a salute. "Boss, we need to get back there _now._ Like, yesterday."

Tronus frowned, concerned. "I have been here for hardly a day, Sir Soundwave. What has happened?"

"The Prime in Purple's been on the move since you up 'n vanished -- he's working on making his way to Earth -- y'know, that planet Shockers spotted. He's even managing to avoid the glass gas bombs somehow!"

"The what?" Wheeljack frowned. "I haven't heard of a bomb named _that_ before."

"Glass gas is a gaseous substance that can change the chemical bonds of metal, making it as brittle as glass," Tronus explained. "I assume that you have such technology?"

"Nope!" Wheeljack grinned. "Would be pretty fun if we did have it, though."

Joshua looked oddly surprised, and exchanged a look with Jolt.

"That's besides the point!" Sir Soundwave retorted. "The Prime in Purple is on the move, and we need you back there! Screamer's doing all he can, but the dude's at his wit's end!"

Tronus' expression hardened. "Then we need to return to our own dimension. I assume that you have come with a way for me to return?"

"Yeah, but Screamer says only one mech can come back. I figured I'd be able to handle whatever this place can throw at me."

Tronus frowned in response. "Sir Soundwave--"

"No buts, Megzy." Sir Soundwave wagged a digit at Tronus. "You're needed back there to keep the Prime in Purple from doing anythin' particularly _nasty."_

Wildfire rolled her optics. "You don't have to do that, you know."

Sir Soundwave gave Wildfire an odd look. "You're talking about the lil' World Jumper, right?"

"Right. Maria can get all of you back, no problem."

"But will she really be able to?"

Everyone looked over at Joshua, who was frowning.

"Maria has only made human-sized portals in the past, except for when we came back from Axiom Nexus," Joshua continued. "And, from what I recall, it took a great deal of energy. Didn't you go home and sleep for half a day?"

Maria ducked her head when she remembered what had happened after the vision of Darkmount being formed from a blast from Cybertron. "Yeah, I kinda did."

"And, Maria usually has to travel through the portals she opens," Joshua continued. "Which means that she would be on _your_ Cybertron while she recovers before coming back."

"What are you saying?" Morgen asked, frowning at the blue-and-green Reploid.

"I'm saying that Maria is going to need an energy boost if she is going to send these two home -- three, if we count the Dark Smokescreen we have in the next hangar over."

"And, in case you all haven't noticed, it is getting late," Katie spoke up suddenly. She pointed out towards the outside of the hangar, where it was clear that the sun was already starting to set.

Maria stared out the hangar doors, blinking. "Whoa. I didn't even notice."

"Of course you didn't," Wildfire muttered. "We were distracted by the fact that we've got a couple Decepticons and an Autobot from a dimension where our roles are reversed. If _that_ isn't enough of a distraction, I don't know what is."

"It seems we will need to solve the issue of returning to our own world after we have all rested," Tronus remarked.

"Not necessarily," Joshua spoke up again. "I have a plan."

** Space Break **

Megatron frowned as Soundwave brought up the readings he had found at the crater. "Shockwave, what do you make of this?"

The cycloptic scientist almost seemed to be eager as he came forward, looking over the monitor and scanning the data. "It seems that someone has managed to create a way to travel between dimensions, but I had not thought that it was possible."

"Travel between dimensions?" Starscream, who had been standing at the back of the group, had a sneering expression on his face. He shook his head as he continued to mutter, "I highly doubt that's possible. Who says that there are even other dimensions out there in the first place?"

Knock Out, who was standing next to Starscream, half-whispered in response, "Lord Megatron and Shockwave have been talking about this for a while. Shockwave seems to think that the human that was spotted with the Autobots is able to cross between dimensions like those mythical Cybertronains."

Starscream snorted. "Yeah, right. They're myths for a reason. I highly doubt that a mere human would be able to do anything like that."

"You could be surprised by these 'humans' and their ingenuity." Shockwave turned and looked back at the two Decepticons, who stiffened when the scientist had spoken. "I have researched their scientific discoveries in order to gauge how much of a threat they are to us. While their technology is primitive, they have been able to achieve much in the short amount of time they have been in existence. There might come a time when they will surpass us, but I doubt that will be soon."

"Indeed," Megatron agreed, nodding to the scientist.

Starscream snorted again. "Still. A small, flesh-ridden creature that is capable of doing things that we're only told about in myths? I find that hard to believe. Wildfire probably just used those ability of hers that I've heard so much about."

"Wildfire is not one to use her ability in that manner," Shockwave responded. "You have seen her fight."

Starscream spluttered while Knock Out nodded in agreement.

"She liked to coat her weapons and slash her opponents to pieces," Knock Out recalled. "I never got to meet her personally, but I did hear stories...." He trailed off, then shuddered. "Yeah, that blast of fire couldn't have been her."

"Well then, what could it have--" Starscream cut himself off as Soundwave brought up a picture of the video game character that had been on the bridge monitor when he had first heard about the "World Jumper." He stared wide-eyed at it, then spluttered and shook his helm. "But that's impossible!"

"Exactly why I wish to capture this human and study her," Shockwave replied. "She has not appeared since our base of operations collapsed, however."

"Perhaps we should send the beast after her?" Knock Out suggested giving Starscream a sly look. The Seeker gave the medic a dark look in response.

"No." Shockwave's response was curt. "I wish to be capable of studying her alive; not destroyed by the Predacon."

"Well then, what do you think we should do?" Starscream sneered back.

"We watch and we wait," Megatron responded. "Humans, while a resilient force, can be easily harmed. As a result, the ones that the Autobots have befriended have come under their protection." He turned to face the picture of the human on the bridge's monitor. "This one may be more active, but she will be no different from the others. We will need to force the Autobots away so that we will be able to capture this one. But how to get around to doing so...."


	23. Chapter 23

When Maria woke up the next morning, she discovered that everyone else was already up...and talking to one rather annoyed-looking Fowler.

"Dude, you really need to chill," Sir Soundwave commented, shaking his helm. "If the kid's a World Jumper like everybot else has been saying, we're gonna be all good. No worries, right?"

"If I wasn't worried, then this would be something that happened every single day!" Fowler barked back. "I didn't even know that people like this _existed_ until these kids showed up!" He motioned to the collection of humans that was standing on the recreational platform.

Maria sat up on the couch, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and running fingers through her hair in oder to see if there were any knots in her hair. "Morning, guys. What's going on?"

Matthew looked back at his sister. "Joshua's idea isn't sitting well with Fowler, but I think we're going to end up going through with it anyway."

"Really?" Maria rose to her feet. "You mean the things with me absorbing the energy from that portal from the other dimension? I'm not even sure if I'll be able to do it. I mean, I've only absorbed fire before."

"You might be able to by focusing on your portal ability, not your fire abilities."

Maria blinked. "...you think so?"

"You kids are going to give all of us heart attacks!" Fowler barked, getting Maria's attention again. "What makes you think that you're going to be able to do what you're planning, anyway?"

"We don't," Joshua replied with a straight face.

"If this is at all like anime, then it's gonna work without any need for testing," Liz muttered. "At all."

Miko nodded sagely in agreement." Yup." She grinned widely. "Especially if this was _Gurren Lagann!_ "

Liz raised an eyebrow. "I've heard about that one, but I haven't actually watched it."

"Oh, you have to! It's awesome!"

"Girls," Morgan spoke up. "We have something that we need to take care of, remember? You can talk about anime later."

Miko and Liz both looked disappointed at that particular statement, but they reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"Maybe you guys can come up with a list of ones I should look into," Maria suggested from behind them. "Liz has been talking about getting me into it for a while, and I kinda do have my foot in the door already, since I've walked in on her watching episodes of _One Piece_ a couple times."

Miko gawked at Maria. "You haven't--" She gained a determined expression and nodded. "You definitely need to!"

With that said, she grabbed Liz and dragged her off a short distance, and the two started whispering to themselves, occasionally looking over at the others.

Matthew gave Maria an amused look before looking back over at Fowler, who still looked annoyed.

"I know you kids have done some pretty crazy things," the agent said, nodding to the Carlesdales. "But that doesn't mean you can get involved in the war like that!"

"We did already on an alternate Earth," Matthew pointed out, motioning between himself and Maria. "With the Justice League."

"I don't care if you got to meet the Easter Bunny!" Fowler exploded. "The point is, you're going into uncharted territory -- _especially_ considering that the Autobots are on the wrong side of the law where _they_ come from -- and you aren't going to be able to rely on anybody that you know here!"

"Which is exactly why Jolt, Tronus, and I talked it over last night and decided it might be a good idea to send a number of Autobots from our worlds with her," Joshua responded. "And I am planning on going, as well."

Joshua's statement caused the humans to turn and look at him with mixed expressions of surprise and curiosity, while Maria simply stared blankly at him.

Maria shook her head to clear the shock out. "What, are you serious?"

"Completely," Jolt replied.

"The Autobots are far too powerful for me to be able to do too much to them," Tronus explained. "If I returned with reinforcements -- even if it was for a short time -- we might be able to hold them back more than I would be able to otherwise."

"And we will do all that we can in order to assist you," Optimus said, nodding.

"What about the Decepticons here?" Ultra Magnus demanded. "If we were all to leave, then Megatron would--"

"I am not proposing that we all leave for this alternate plain of existence, Ultra Magnus." Optimus fixed the Wrecker Commander with a pointed look before continuing, "It would be far wiser to send Autobots who do not have counterparts among the living at this present time."

The statement got mixed reactions from the humans and Cybertronians present.

"You mean I can't go?" Wheeljack scowled. "Well, that's not fair."

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Maybe...so that both sides don't end up getting confused about who is on what side?" Raf suggested.

"That is a part," Tronus responded. "Also, having Cybertronians on my side that my opponents know to be dead may confuse and terrify the Elite Guard enough to give us an advantage."

Morgen leaned against Katie and whispered something in her ear that sounded vaguely like, "Sounds like 80's logic to me." The woman blinked in surprise for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"In that case, Wildfire could go," Sparkseer said, nodding to the red and orange femme.

"And I intend to," Wildfire responded. "Maria can get herself into more trouble than Miko."

"Hey!" Maria pouted. "I don't mean to...."

"Exactly why you need me."

"I am going as well."

Everyone turned to look at Shape-Change.

"It's obvious that their world knows nothing of shifters," Shape-Change continued. "I can use that to our advantage."

Tronus nodded in agreement. "Most certainly." He looked over at Sparkseer and Jolt. "I would have you, as well, but your counterparts live still."

"We understand." Sparkseer nodded. "Having two of us in the same dimension could make things confusing very quickly."

Tronus nodded, then turned his attention to the rest of the earthbound Autobots. "I believe that Ratchet, Optimus, Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Wheeljack, and Smokescreen should remain, which means that the rest of you are capable of joining our group, if you so desire."

"You're going to need a medic," First Aid spoke up. "Especially since your systems seem to be different from ours. I wouldn't want Wildfire or Maria getting anywhere near any of your damaged faction members, just in case they end up doing anything to their...Embers? Is that right?"

"Yup!" Sir Soundwave gave a thumbs-up.

"And I'd like to knock some sense into those guys," Bulkhead added, smashing his fists together.

"Make sure my counterpart gets the point, will ya?" Wheeljack grinned.

"You bet!" Bulkhead and Wheeljack shared a fistbump.

Bumblebee hesitated. **"I dunno...."**

"Go on, Bee!" Miko yelled suddenly. "Go and smack some sense into them!"

The yellow and black Autobot whirred uncertainly, looking back and forth between Tronus and Optimus.

"It is your choice, Bumblebee," Optimus said.

"We would appreciate your help as much as your companions," Tronus added. "However, if you don't want to assist us, I am not about to force you."

Bumblebee considered that for a moment, frowning. Then he nodded. **"I'll go. Those other Autobots aren't going to know what hit them!"**

Tronus and Optimus nodded in agreement.

Fowler looked around, then let out a groan and dug his fingers into his head. "You are just going to go and do this regardless of what I say, aren't you?"

"Yes," Morgen replied, deadpan.

Maria grinned and giggled a little bit. "Well, I've gotta do my job, anyway. I don't particularly care if they tag along." Her smile faded slightly. "But this is gonna cost a lot of energy if Joshua's theory doesn't work out."

Joshua didn't answer; instead, he frowned. "It should. The residue energy from the portals Tronus and...Sir Soundwave traveled through should still be there. It should work well enough to allow us through with minimal energy expended on your part."

"We won't know until we get there," Wildfire pointed out in response, looking over at the two Reploids. "Which we probably should _now,_ if we're going to get to their place and figure out what's going wrong until its too late."

"We should bring Dark Smoke with us, too," First Aid pointed out. "I don't think it would be a good idea to keep him here,"

"Agreed," Tronus and Optimus spoke at once, then looked at each other odd-expressions -- Tronus looked surprised, and Optimus seemed to be....amused?

"As Dark Smoke belongs to my dimension and not yours, it would make sense that he would come back with us," Tronus added. "It is simply a matter of making sure that he doesn't run off when we bring him with us; while I am sure that the Autobots wouldn't think twice about an Elite Guard disappearing into the spaces in between dimensions, us capturing one of their members would make things...interesting."

Wildfire grinned widely. "I'd love to be able to see what happens when they find out. I could use a good brawl."

"Just don't get too close to any Dark Energon," Jolt quipped, smirking. He had to step back a second later when Wildfire sent him a glare and looked like she wanted to take a swing at him.

It looked like Fowler's eye wanted to twitch. Badly. "If you have decided that you're going to head over to this other dimension, why don't you get going before I start to lose my sanity?"

The others exchanged looks at Fowler's statement.

Maria cocked her head to one side for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. Let's go and see if I can get that big portal open."

** Time Break **

Getting Dark Smoke to the portal's origin point had been something that was interesting, but not impossible.

Wildfire and Tronus came to a stop in front of the crater that the leader of the reverse Decepticons had been found in. As Wildfire let Maria and Joshua out, Sir Soundwave came up behind them with his cargo, who was shrieking almost constantly.

"This is so not cool, dudes," Sir Soundwave complained. Maria could almost imagine him glaring at the sports car that had been tied down on top of his white van alternate mode. Ratchet had somehow managed to lock Dark Smoke into his alternate mode, which made it easier to cart what Maria had taken to calling the "reverse Autobot" around, but that hadn't shut the mech up.

"You can't take me back!" Dark Smoke insisted. "Goldbug is going to offline me! I just know it!"

" **Who's Goldbug?"** Bumblebee whirred.

"The leader of Optimus' Seekers," Tronus responded. "Rumor has it that he didn't go by that name originally, but his original name is unknown to us Decepticons. He is very much ruthless and seems to lust after Optronix's position as leader."

"Sounds a lot like Starscream," Bulkhead noted.

Tronus gave the Wrecker a frown, then sighed and shook his helm. "I suppose I should count myself lucky to not have met my counterpart instead of Optimus. Something tells me that I might have ended up far worse off."

"We'll have time to think about that later," Shape-Change spoke up. "Maria, Joshua -- are the two of you prepared?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Maria replied, swinging her left arm in a warming-up fashion. "What do you think I should do, Joshua?"

"Just start to open up a portal like you normally would," the blue and green Reploid replied. "Your powers should do the rest; otherwise, you are going to have to go into stasis lock to recover while we focus on bringing the war back into a balance that would be ready to tilt in Tronus' favor."

"That might be difficult to do, I'm afraid," Tronus warned.

"We'll see about that." Wildfire shot the Reverse Decepticon a knowing smirk. "World Jumpers can do a lot of things that could end up surprising you. I know that from experience."

Maria took in a breath as she gathered her energy. "Okay. Here goes!" She put her right hand out in front of her and forced the power out, focusing on opening a portal to the "reverse world" that Tronus and Sir Soundwave were from.

To her surprise, she felt like she was hitting a wall for a moment, but then something inside her almost seemed to _shatter_ like glass. A well of energy suddenly bubbled up from out of nowhere at the exact same time, and it _tried_ to flow into Maria, but it hit another wall.

Maria flinched. "Okay, this energy feels _wrong."_

Joshua blinked. "Wrong? What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure...." Maria frowned, gritting her teeth. "But whatever it is, I don't like it. I'm definitely going to get rid of it as quickly as possible."

the Reploid World Jumper focused, glaring in concentration as she _pushed_ against the mental wall that separated her from the energy before she promptly _burned_ it up in order to open the portal to the place she needed it to be.

The resulting portal that opened was as tall as Tronus and was a darker shade of blue than Maria's portals normally were.

"Go!" Maria barked, gritting her teeth and wincing as she felt a headache start to come on. "I don't want to keep this thing open for longer than I have to!"

Sir Soundwave promptly lunged forward with a roar from his engine, taking off over the edge of the crater and into the portal. Tronus followed his Morale Officer almost instantly, with First Aid, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Shape-Change in pursuit.

Wildfire transformed into her bipedal form and scooped up Joshua and Maria. "Hold on!"

That was their only warning before Wildfire dove into the portal, leaving the desert behind them empty except for the portal.

Then the large, dark blue, swirling mass disappeared as well, leaving the desert empty and void of any sort of life -- alien or otherwise.


	24. Meet the Reverse Decepticons

When Maria's headache finally decided to clear up, she found herself, Joshua, and Wildfire in an unexpected situation.

Mainly the fact that there were a bunch of square-shaped Cybertronians with Tronus' Decepticon symbol standing around them, arguing _in English_ over whether or not the Cybertronians Tronus brought back were to be trusted.

The voice coming from the short, red, blocky Cybertronian were actually the loudest.

"I don't see why we should even let them stay here!" the red mech insisted. "They look nothing like the Autobots that I know about! How are we to know that they aren't really evil Decepticons from their world in disguise?!"

"Hey!" Bulkhead sounded hurt. "We aren't Decepticons."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Cliffjumper, _enough."_ Tronus was rubbing his forehead with a servo, looking irritated. "I trust these five and their smaller allies. They have proven to me that they can be trusted, regardless of the fact that they are from a faction that I am not. You do not need to be so paranoid about them."

Maria rubbed her head, grimacing as the headache faded away. "Ouch. I did _not_ think that using energy that another portal was made out of would hurt so much. I hope that I never have to do it again." She sent a sour glare at Joshua, who was standing on Wildfire's other servo.

Joshua shrugged. "Well, unless you're planning on staying here for the rest of your life...."

Maria groaned in response.

The red mech -- Cliffjumper -- stared at Maria with a wide-eyed expression before he whirled on Tronus. "What did that human just say? _She_ opened a portal?!"

"I'm right here, you know!" Maria barked back irritably. "And yes, I did! Is that really such a hard thing to wrap your head around?"

"And actually, neither one of us are actually human," Joshua added. "We are, technically, Reploids -- androids capable of replicating human emotion. Useful for us, since we originally were human."

"Originally human?" repeated a winged Decepticon with surprised interest. "I had no idea that humans had such technology! How did that occur?"

"You can ask them that later, Starscream," Tronus responded. "We need to be filled in on what is happening here -- what has happened during my absence? What is it that Optronix is attempting to do?"

The mech's blue face -- Starscream's face -- hardened in response to the statement. "The Autobots have been fast approaching completion of their _Ark,_ Megatron. We've been doing all we can in order to prevent them from being able to take off, but it seems that they've managed to convince a group of neutrals who called themselves Aerialbots to their side."

Wildfire stiffened slightly; next to her, Shape-Change made a noise that sounded worried and curious.

"They've been causing you trouble?" Joshua's face had become a mask, and his tone of voice sounded...strangely casual. "I'm sure that an electromagnetic pulse cannon would be able to make sure that they would be less of a nuisance than they are now. Or anti-aircraft cannons."

"Anti- _aircraft_?" another winged Decepticon repeated. "Most of us are fliers!"

"Then we would have to register our Ember signatures to make sure that the cannons would know not to shoot at us," Starscream started to reason. He started to look more and more eager, only for his face to gain an expression of disappointment. "But we don't have the materials to make such devices, even if we have the brain power in order to do so."

Maria rose to her feet, her headache having become nothing more than a faint throb. She looked around the room, taking stock of who was there and if she could actually figure out which Decepticon was who.

The room they were in was circular, looked old, and had a door in the middle of the ceiling that was closed rightly. Around the walls were what looked like mechanical devices and monitors -- clearly, this was the center of the Decepticon base of operations.

And there were seven Decepticons in the room -- counting Tronus and Sir Soundwave -- who were presently arguing about Maria and her Autobot allies, as well as what to do about the Autobots and their plans to get off-world.

Cliffjumper spluttered. "I still don't see why we should trust these Cybertronians from another dimension!"

"Do we need to remind you that _you_ came from another dimension too?" demanded a green mech harshly. There was an Autobot symbol on his chest, but it had been slashed through, leaving what looked like a rather nasty scar. "If the boss trusts that these guys are all right, I trust him, too."

Cliffjumper gawked at the green mech, but he closed his mouth and shut up.

The green mech then turned and looked Wildfire up and down. "I'm guessing it isn't a coincidence that you look a lot like a femme named Wildfire that I used to know."

Wildfire nodded. "I'm that Wildfire's counterpart. I also happen to be a part of a team in my dimension."

The winged Decepticon who had protested earlier stared at Wildfire with wide optics. "You? On a team? No way! Wildfire said that she didn't want to be bogged down like that -- her or her allies!"

"Even if we had wanted to, we wouldn't have been able to stay neutral for long," Shape-Change responded. "The circumstances for us were far different than they are here."

Maria nodded in agreement. "Yeah. The Decepticons we know are a lot nastier and meaner than Tronus. They were all gladiators before they formed up."

"Megatron's policy is 'peace through tyranny'," Bulkhead added. "Optimus' is that freedom is the right of everybody."

** "Yeah!" ** Bumblebee nodded in agreement. **"That's why we don't follow Megatron!"**

"Hey! Don't you--"

"Thundercracker, _enough_." Starscream gave him a pointed look, shutting up the other winged Decepticon. "They come from a place where we are considered to be villains, for lack of a better term. I thought we already discussed this when Cliffjumper joined us so soon after _his_ counterpart was gutted by Wheeljack and his Dinobots!"

Bulkhead muttered something under his breath, frowning. Maria was able to catch something about "Shockwave" and "the LSC," but she wasn't able to figure out the rest of it.

"Perhaps it would be wise if we introduced ourselves properly before we keep going?" Starscream suggested, looking over at the Autobots again. "I am Starscream, Megatron's second-in-command. This is Thundercracker, one of our front-liners."

The bright blue and white flier gave a curt nod, looking rather unhappy.

"Cliffjumper, our dimensionally-displaced Autobot who acts as something of a paranoid spy--"

"I am not paranoid!" Cliffjumper scowled.

"Knock Out, our chief medic." Starscream nodded to the blue-painted grounder, who gave a nod and a surprisingly pleasing smile to the Autobots.

"And if any of you need a good buffing, I'm sure Breakdown would be more than happy to practice on somebody else for a change," Knock Out added.

Starscream turned to the last mech -- the green one with the slash through the Autobot symbol on his chest. "And this is--"

"I can introduce myself, thanks," the mech said pointedly, frowning at Starscream. Looking over at the Autobots, he said, "The name's Sideswipe. I don't know if I have a counterpart in your universe, and I don't know if he's joined with your Decepticons or not. I only joined mine because I saw where Optim-- _Optronix_ was going. And it wasn't a good way to go, either."

"Sideswipe?" First Aid repeated in surprise.

"I thought there was something familiar about you," Wildfire noted, frowning slightly. "Your attitude is different, but the voice is at least somewhat similar."

"The same to you." Sideswipe nodded in response. "Who're your friends?"

Wildfire motioned with her helm towards each of her companions in turn. "Bulkhead's a Wrecker -- kind of like a front-liner, but they're a lot more crazy on the battlefield. Wheeljack's with them, too, but he's not crazy-angry like yours is, apparently."

Bulkhead gave a nod in greeting.

"Shape-Change is a Wrecker as well, and a scout and a close friend of mine. She can sneak up on Decepticons and catch them by surprise."

"Why's that?" Sideswipe raised an optic ridge.

Shape-Change cocked her helm, smiling for a moment before her entire form shifted suddenly, becoming an exact replica of the Sideswipe in front of them. "Because I am a shifter."

Starscream's jaw dropped as Shape-Change shifted back. "Crystal City's skyscrapers...how did you _do_ that?!"

"Shifters are capable of copying multiple forms and use them as disguises," Shape-Change explained. "We are few in number because this power is so great, but we can hide ourselves anywhere in society if we so chose. My abilities are limited, however -- I can only carry so many weapons, and if I use a weapon that an Autobot or Decepticon does not have, I immediately become suspect. Also, I cannot stay in a form that's not my own for long."

Starscream pulled his jaw up, still looking amazed. "If you would allow me, I would like to be able to come to more of an understanding of your abilities' limits and strengths."

"We'll see."

Wildfire nodded back to the femme behind her. "That's First Aid, one of our medics. She's been studying under a Ratchet I'd call more grumpy than crazy."

"We run on Sparks rather than Embers, so I want to make sure that everyone is treated correctly if they become injured," First Aid explained.

Knock Out's optics widened. "Sparks? Perhaps we should exchange notes so that we can assist each other."

First Aid was slightly taken aback out of surprise by the mech's statement, but then she gave a nod. "Okay, sure. Sounds good."

Wildfire looked down at the two Reploids in her servos. "These two are Maria and Joshua -- they're part of the friends we have back on Earth. Maria and I have the same ability, so be careful if those Embers of yours ever get exposed."

"We don't know what happens yet, and I can honestly say that I don't want to find out," Maria said as Thundercracker took a step back with a nervous look on his face.

"I do have some control over electricity, as well," Joshua added, "but I focus my attention on inventions that could possibly be used to improve certain situations."

Wildfire nodded to a certain yellow and black mech. "And that's Bumblebee. He's a scout that works directly underneath Optimus Prime, who definitely isn't like your Optronix at all."

"Bumblebee?!" Sideswipe repeated, optics wide as he stared at the mech in shock.

Bumblebee blinked. **"Uh...yeah? Why are you looking at me like that?"**

Sideswipe quickly reeled in his shock as he turned on Tronus. "I thought you said First Aid and possibly that human in the red and orange armor had any counterparts here!"

Tronus blinked. "That is what I said. Why? I haven't heard of a mech named Bumblebee."

"Because he doesn't _go_ by Bumblebee anymore." Sideswipe pointed a digit at Bumblebee. "He's _Goldbug's_ counterpart!"

The shocked silence that followed was only there for a moment.

"Wait -- you mean the guy who acts like the Starscream in _our_ dimension is _his_ counterpart?!" Maria pointed at Bumblebee with a wide-eyed expression of surprise.

Bumblebee shuddered. **"I'd rather not be compared to _him,_ thank you very much!"**

Starscream stiffened at Maria's exclamation as well. "My counterpart acts like _what?!"_

"We'll fill in the details on that later," Joshua said quickly.

"Regardless of _what_ we do, we're gonna have to be careful with him." Sideswipe pointed at Bumblebee. "If he goes out and Autobots hear his name -- especially ones that are close to the False Prime, things are going to get out of hand quickly." His optics narrowed. "I know that some mechs are going to think that Bumblebee is a clone of Goldbug."

"And they _aren't_ going to say that I've been raised from the dead?" Wildfire responded, raising an optic ridge.

"They'll be able to tell the difference between you and _her_ because they know for a _fact_ that she died because of a Dark Energon infection," Sideswipe responded shortly. "At least, they will eventually -- all of them have gone so kooky that it's hard to say if any rational thought goes on in their heads anymore."

Maria couldn't help but feel like she had been hit, and she flinched at the news. Joshua also looked concerned.

"How long ago was that?" First Aid asked, concerned. "And what made them do that? Dark Energon?"

Sideswipe considered the question, then nodded. "I think so. The stuff never trickled down to us -- they all claimed it was better for the higher-ups to have as much as possible, with the False Prime getting the most of it. I gotta tell ya, I really wanted to try the stuff out at first, but then Optronix just went nuts and infected Wildfire with the stuff, and I thought that enough was enough."

"I'm starting to wish I had brought Sparkseer with us," Wildfire muttered, scowling. "He might have been able to do something, at least."

"He works with Sparks, not Embers," Joshua responded. "His 'something' might not be permanent enough for these Cybertronians."

"Well, I've got a Spark." Cliffjumper looked strangely sour. "Don't lump me in with these guys just because I'm not from your dimension, either."

"Starscream, what has been done so far -- on both sides?" Tronus interjected.

"Well, Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack have disappeared, as well as a number of others," Starscream replied.

"Thank Primus," Cliffjumper muttered.

"We believe they might have disappeared into the portal that you and Smokescreen took, but they have yet to get into contact with Optronix or do anything of note to shake up the dimensional realms. The Dimension Spanner has started to lose energy, so I think that, with Maria's assistance, it will be possible to send our visitors back to their home world before the entire portal collapses, essentially cutting us off from other dimensions." Starscream paused. "Wheeljack had developed a metal that might possibly be resistant to the glass gas, so we will need other options in order to hinder the Autobots."

"I'm sure we'll think of something," Bulkhead responded. Shape-Change and Wildfire nodded in agreement.

"The Autobots are getting more reckless, too," Cliffjumper added. "And that's a _very bad thing."_

"How bad?" Maria asked.

"They're basically pushing themselves to the point that they've bled themselves to death." Cliffjumper paused. "It doesn't help that all of them have old battle wounds because they don't want to go to Ratchet for any kind of attention."

"Considering what we've been told about how he acts here, I'm not surprised," Joshua replied dryly. "Even watching our Ratchet _pretend_ to act like that in order to get information out of Dark Smokescreen was...unnerving."

Maria and Wildfire snorted and nodded in agreement.

"The bad thing about it is that it's letting mini factions of Autobots break off and rise up all over the place!" Cliffjumper waved his arms around. "It's becoming a hazard to even set foot outside the base anymore because of how bad it is!"

"I could use a challenge," Wildfire responded.

"And we haven't even gotten _started_ on the Metroplex problem."

"Metroplex?" Bulkhead repeated. "You mean that giant 'bot that was under the city of Iacon?"

"What?" Wildfire turned and looked at the green mech. "There was a giant Cybertronian below Iacon? Since when?"

** "Since after you left,"  ** Bumblebee replied. **"Optimus woke him up. He was a big help with getting us off the planet and keeping the Decepticons away from the _Ark_ while we were trying to build it."**

The Decepticons stared at Bumblebee, and he shrank back a little, clearly looking nervous.

"What happened to him?" Sideswipe asked carefully.

Bumblebee hesitated for a moment. **"He ended up draining himself of his Energon in order to make sure we'd be able to get off the planet. Megatron had turned Trypticon into a ship by then, though -- it's called the _Nemesis._ "**

The Decepticons exchanged looks.

"Trypticon has been heavily damaged," Tronus said carefully. "I doubt that he would be able to do such a thing for us, even if we managed to repair him enough so that he would be capable of transforming."

"I don't think Megatron even repaired him," Bulkhead responded.

Bulkhead's statement caused the Decepticons to gain grim expressions.

"...I see." Tronus looked exceedingly troubled. "Perhaps we should postpone the discussion of getting off Cybertron for now; there are other things which we should focus on."

Starscream nodded in agreement. "Of course! Perhaps we should arrange for quarters for our visitors as well."

"Before we do that, I want to find someone."

Starscream blinked, then looked over at Wildfire curiously. "You want to find someone? Did someone else come through with you?"

As Wildfire shook her helm, Sideswipe gained an expression of understanding.

"You want to find that neutral group, don't you?" the former Autobot asked. "The Gladiator Team?"

Wildfire nodded as Cliffjumper started spluttering again.

"There's no way we'll be able to find them! They don't have a main lair, and if they do, it's so far off the map and under the radar that neither faction can find it! It's like they don't exist!"

"I can find it."

Everyone turned to look at Sideswipe.

"I know about a couple of their hideouts, and I trained with Wildfire back before the war," Sideswipe explained. "The road's gonna be a bit rough, but we should be able to reach them no problem."

"Where is it?" Wildfire asked.

"The Iaconian Badlands."


	25. Iaconian Badlands

**_ Extra (Wildfire's POV) -- Reverse Dimension: Geography _ **

_ The last thing I was expecting from this dimension was that the geography would get as mixed up as the mechs and femmes in this Primus-forsaken place. Apparently, we're all that lucky. _

_ The Badlands weren't out near Kaon, like they usually are -- they're near Iacon instead. Optronix's  _ former _home base, apparently. Sideswipe said the guy changes his home every other megacycle, but he always makes it a point to hang the torn-up bodies of the Autobots and Decepticons he's killed personally in Kaon. Apparently, "the False Prime likes the atmosphere there better than the place where he used to work in the library."_

_ Well, at least one thing's stayed consistent with my opponents on Cybertron -- they've all liked having Kaon as their home base. _

_ Another thing that's different: the planet's more torn up from the war than I think my Cybertron ever was, and it has a lot more city than I had been expecting. It's like Kaon and Iacon are sectors of a giant city, and not their own separate locations. Sideswipe claimed that was because they didn't have a space age until recently, and when I asked about castes and any sort of Rust Age, he and the other Decepticons just looked at me funny. _

_ Also, the main hubs for the other cities -- Crystal City, Vox, Tarn, you know the rest -- all destroyed. Just like on my Cybertron. It's just that they're in different places all over the place. Vox had a rivalry with Tyger Pax, not Tarn, Crystal City was on the outskirts of everything by the Sea of Rust -- where the glass would have been pocketed and destroyed by the rust storms -- and Praxus and Polyhex had switched places. _

_ And what made it all worse? _

_ It's that the Autobots in this dimension were winning the war, unlike the stalemate we had in my dimension. All the Decepticons have left to their name are Tarn, Praxus, and the ruins of Crystal City. Not exactly a good situation for us to be in. _

_ I can only hope that the allies of my dead counterpart will be able to do something to help balance all of this out. _

** Maria's POV **

I looked out Wildfire's passenger side window as we went over another bump in the road. Cybertron was in such a sorry state, I found myself unable to look away from the rent metal ground and ruined buildings.

I couldn't help but imagine that this was what Earth could have looked like if nuclear and hydrogen bombs went off all over the world. It...wasn't a pretty picture.

"So, this is a Cybertron," Joshua noted from where he sat in the back seat. "This isn't exactly what I had imagined."

_ " _ The war here looks like it's been a lot worse," Wildfire replied, sounding grim. "Iacon wasn't this bad when I left; the Decepticons hadn't even reached this far. They started in Kaon and only gained a hemisphere of territory for a long time."

It was just Wildfire, Sideswipe, First Aid, and the two of us who were taking the trip across Cybertron's destroyed landscape; the others had decided to stay behind so that the Gladiator Team wouldn't feel like they were being pressured into doing anything by the Decepticons -- or the Autobots, for that matter.

It was for this reason that Wildfire had reluctantly had a red Decepticon symbol added to her arm, while the red Autobot symbol remained on her chest. First Aid was a little more willing, but she was still reluctant -- not about the symbol; she knew the reason she was getting it. Instead, it was more the idea that Knock Out was the one handling the symbol.

Joshua and I were too small to get the symbols, but Tronus did make sure that we were added to their communication system along with everyone else. He did tell us that we needed to keep radio silence as much as possible, though -- if only because there was a change that the Autobots could listen in.

I shuddered a bit when I thought of how the Autobots were actually _evil_ in this dimension. "I can't stand it."

Wildfire's holoform looked over at me while Joshua raised an eyebrow.

"Can't stand what?" Wildfire asked.

"Thinking of Autobots as bad guys." I paused. "I know _you_ guys, not them. So when I think of the word 'Autobot'--"

"You think of the team we know acting as the villains," Joshua finished, nodding.

"So call them something else." Wildfire shrugged.

"Well, yeah, but _what?"_ I scowled. "Optronix is easy because that's _his_ original name and not Optimus', but both of them came up with 'Autobot' like the Megatrons came up with 'Decepticon.' It's not exactly easy, you know."

"Actually, it might be." Joshua gained a thoughtful expression. "Just switch the syllables around. From what I've heard from Jolt, most Cybertronians with a last syllable of 'con' in their race's name has a good deal of their members in the Decepticons, while the 'bots' are Autobots. Taking that into account, considering how everyone is acting as their reverse of the ones we know...Auto-cons and Decepti-bots."

I blinked blankly at Joshua's statement, then frowned slightly and cocked my head. "Well...I _guess_ that works."

"We'll call them that when we're not with the mechs from around here, then," Wildfire decided, nodding.

Up in front of Wildfire and First Aid, they heard something that sounded like a honk.

"That means we're close, right?" I shifted in my seat, ready to unbuckle and leap out at a moment's notice so that Wildfire could transform.

"I think so." Wildfire's holoform leaned forward, as well, gripping the wheel like she was eager to speed up. "Let's see what these counterparts of my team are like."

Sideswipe drove off the edge of the pothole-filled road, First Aid and Wildfire following after him a moment later. A short distance out, the green mech transformed. He wordlessly nodded to Wildfire and First Aid -- a signal that I took to mean that Joshua and I needed to scramble out of Wildfire's alt before we ended up getting smushed. I quickly unbuckled my seat belt and practically leapt out the door as Joshua followed my lead a second later. Then Wildfire and First Aid both transformed as Joshua and I found our footing on the metal ground.

"This is just too weird," I voiced, looking down at the metal ground below my feet. "I'm used to there being dirt or rocks or _something_ like that -- not this stuff." I jumped up and down a couple times, feeling how my feet instantly met resistance from the ground -- like sidewalk but...harder, in a way.

"It certainly is something that we will have to get used to while we're here," Joshua agreed, inspecting the metal. "I find it interesting that there's oxygen in the air, despite the fact that oxygen would make metal like this eventually rust."

"Our Cybertron doesn't have it," Wildfire commented.

"We can talk about the differences later," Sideswipe said, frowning somewhat disapprovingly. "You wanted to see the Gladiator Team, not talk about the differences between our dimensions."

"Sorry." I rubbed the back of my head, feeling embarrassed. "It's kind of hard not to for us."

Sideswipe grunted. "Well, do it later. Their base is this way." He started walking across the uneven ground; First Aid followed after him instantly.

Since I didn't know how far we were going, I activated my hoverboard and jumped on. "Come on, Joshua. This'll help us keep up for a bit."

Joshua jumped on behind me, and soon we were cruising along, keeping pace with Wildfire.

Sideswipe glanced back at us and blinked. "What are you _riding_ on?"

"Hoverboard," I answered, shrugging. "I got it as a gift a while back from a super-smart human. We tend to be pretty inventive by nature."

Sideswipe blinked, then gained something that looked like a deadpan expression. "Uh-huh."

It didn't take us too long to reach the place where Sideswipe was leading us: a cave entrance that seemed to go down into the side of a hill that had what looked like a destroyed observatory on top.

Wildfire looked up and frowned. "Seriously? They chose _here_ of all places?"

"Why?" I looked up at my partner curiously. "Is there something wrong with it?"

Wildfire looked down at me, frowned, then shook her head. "Nah, nothing's wrong with the Observatory. It's what's _under_ it that brings back some nasty memories for me."

"Observatory?" Sideswipe shook his helm. "That wasn't an observatory. That was a prototype anti-aircraft cannon. They used the Badlands for weapons testing them."

Wildfire frowned. "How war-like _are_ you?"

"A lot more than your dimension, apparently," Sideswipe grunted in reply. He started for the cave again. "Come on; they've probably noticed that I'm out here with you guys already. Seer probably already noticed that you're...different."

True to the former Autobot's word, somebody started coming up from the cave as we got closer. It took me a moment to recognize him -- he was blocky like the rest of the Decepticons we'd seen so far, his paint was a lot more chipped, and it was orange and blue instead of just blue, but he had the golden spear and was about the same height as his counterpart.

The one thing that made me unhappy, though, was that he was looking at us all with a guarded expression. Like he didn't know whether or not to trust us.

"Sideswipe, who are these Cybertronians you have brought here?" the mech asked cautiously. "Their Embers are--"

"Not Embers," Sideswipe responded. "They're Sparks, like Cliffjumper's, and the two little ones aren't Cybertronians. They call themselves Reploids." He motioned to us. "They come from an alternate dimension where Autobots are allies and Decepticons are enemies."

The mech in front of us frowned. "I find that hard to believe. I understand that it is possible that other dimensions exist out there, but I doubt they can be common enough that the same situation can come up twice."

"From what I've heard, the Multiverse is split fifty-fifty," Wildfire spoke up suddenly. "There's as much a chance that we could be good guys as we could be bad guys. And I can say for sure that I'm a good guy."

Seer did a double-take and stared at Wildfire in shock. "Wildfire? But...how? You're supposed to be--"

"If she was dead, then I'd be without a partner," I spoke up matter-of-factly, folding my arms across my chest. I let a few flames lick at my shoulders before they dissipated.

Seer looked down at me, blinking owlishly before looking back at Wildfire. "If you are who you seem to be, then what happened? As far as I am aware, you died of Dark Energon poisoning. What changed?"

Wildfire paused at the question. "To be honest, I nearly did. Sparkseer -- your counterpart -- held off the infection before...someone else intervened. I spent twelve years in a situation you wouldn't believe actually happened, and then I reunited with the rest of my team. We're on Earth at the moment."

"Tronus -- this place's Megatron -- ended up getting to our world, so we figured we'd come back with him and see if there was anything we could do to help," I added.

Seer looked a little lost for words, blinking blankly for a moment. Then he looked at Wildfire. "I would like to ask something of you. When did you meet your world's False Prime?"

Wildfire frowned. "Our Optimus isn't a false Prime. He has the Matrix of Leadership -- I've seen it. I first met the librarian when Megatron brought him down to Kaon to have a tour of the arena we had down there."

Wildfire's comment about seeing the Matrix peeked my interest, and I wondered if she had seen it through me, or on her own. I was definitely going to have to ask her about that later.

"Megatron is a gladiator in our dimension," First Aid added quickly, getting Seer's attention. "We know things are different here, but you should know that things were different for us, too. Optimus isn't crazy -- he'd kind, and gentle. We have a number of humans who come to our base regularly in order to spend time there, and nothing's ever happened to them under his watch." She smiled. "Ratchet isn't crazy, either. He's grumpy, sure, but he doesn't do things to a mech who he's trying to heal."

"He does have a mean throwing arm with that wrench of his, though," Wildfire muttered, rubbing the back of her helm.

I snickered, remembering something from one of our World Jumping trips. "Hey, Wildfire? Remember that one dimension where we worked with that group of superheroes? You know, when we got attacked by those Vehicons whose weak points were their necks?"

"And Ratchet took them all out with one throw of his wrench?" Wildfire grinned widely and laughed. "I remember thinking, 'about time he used it on something else!' It felt so _good_ to see those mechs get it for once!"

Seer looked confused. "Your Ratchet...is armed with a _wrench?"_

"Only if you get him annoyed," First Aid replied. "It can be quite dangerous, but Ratchet does mean well for his patients. Even if they are pranksters like our Sideswipe and Sunstreaker."

Sideswipe blinked. "Pranksters?" He frowned. "Who has time for that in a war?"

"You, apparently," I quipped in response.

"While all of this is interesting to talk about, didn't we come here for a different reason?" Joshua spoke up, sounding impatient. "Like putting your war in a situation where you could tip the balance in your favor?"

Sideswipe instantly gained that serious expression I was slowly getting used to seeing him with. "Right." He turned to look at Seer again. "Our allies from another dimension have offered us some help in order to stop the Autobots here. Wildfire said that she wanted to be able to meet with you to see if you would be willing to help."

Seer frowned, still looking like he wasn't exactly sure what to think of us. "We stayed out of the war for a reason. We didn't want to be used by either side, and we wanted to be able to look after our own."

"You can't stay neutral very well in a war," Wildfire replied shortly. " _Especially_ if most of the planet gets caught in the crossfire as mechs and femmes are choosing sides left and right. Even if we had wanted to avoid it, we couldn't -- we were _gladiators,_ like Megatron. The only reason we ever changed sides -- and were able to get away with it -- was because Optimus gave us another way of looking at things -- and another way out. Even if you keep going with things in the way you have been, you won't be able to avoid the inevitable for much longer."

Seer's frown deepened.

"Hey." I coaxed my hoverboard forward a little, getting the orange and blue mech's attention. "What is it that matters the most to you and the rest of you? What do you think is the most important thing you can defend?"

Seer opened his mouth to respond, but he paused as he continued to look at me. I decided to keep going.

"You've already said that you don't want to be involved in the war, but you kind of already are, aren't you? Sideswipe mentioned that you tend to make raids for supplies -- which side of the war do you raid more often? How many mechs and femmes are you on good terms with, like Sideswipe?" I gave a shrug. "I think your actions might be speaking for you and saying what you can't. Maybe you should start listening to them."

"That's basically what I've been saying this entire time, you mecha-Lucario!"

I stiffened when I heard the familiar -- but unfamiliar -- voice come up from behind Seer. A figure wearing what looked like a half, yellow, half red jumpsuit with a pair of red goggles resting on top of his head stepped around Seer and folded his arms across his chest.

"Seriously, if you guys don't take action, that evil Prime you're always talking about is going to destroy the whole universe," the figure -- a redhead teenage boy -- added. "My team would have been on the ball _weeks_ ago, if they'd ended up getting dragged through the Speed Force with me."

I sucked in a breath sharply. "No way...."

"What is it?" Joshua asked, frowning. "Do you know him?"

I glanced back at him. "Ever seen the show _Young Justice?"_

"A few episodes, but only from the earlier season on Netflix. My parents don't have cable."

"That's Kid Flash. And _he shouldn't be here."_

There was a blast of wind, and I turned my head sharply in order to see Kid Flash staring me right in the face.

"You know about me?" He started moving around us in short bursts, taking on a different stance every time as he looked us over. "Hmm...your armor doesn't look like anything that I've seen in real life -- other than convention pictures for those MegaMan games, but those aren't nearly as good. Did Nightwing put you together with Red Tornado's help or something? Are you his kids?"

I spluttered as Joshua answered in a deadpan voice. "No."

"Well then, what happened?"

"Let's just say 'accidents' and leave it at that for now. If you want a more specific retelling, we'd be more than happy to give you one later." Joshua nudged me in the back, getting me out of my surprised state at Kid Flash's suggestion.

I shook my head. "Yeah, since we've got other things to worry about. Did you say you got here through the Speed Force? You're not saying that you ended up here when you took out that Reach machine, did you?"

Kid Flash stared at me. "Okay, what kind of accidents gave you that armor? Because you're really starting to freak me out here."

"Transformed into a robot and transferred into a robot body when my body wasn't able to survive an attack," I responded quickly, motioning to Joshua and myself in turn. "And I know about you...because I come from another dimension, like we said. But you're in a _TV show_ where we come from."

Kid Flash stared at me, his eyes getting bigger and bigger. "Okay, I know that interdimensional travel is possible by me, but how did you manage it?"

"We can explain that when we're in more private places," Sideswipe interrupted. "I do not like the idea of being out in the open, where it's possible we could be attacked."

"Come inside, then." Seer stepped to one side and motioned for us to go through the whole in the metal hill. "We can talk in Jolt's, Coil's, and First Aid's presences, as well, then."

Wildfire stiffened. "How did Coil come to be in this dimension?" she asked carefully. It sounded a little like she was restraining herself, and when I remembered what they had told us about Jolt, Coil, and Shockwave, I realized why that was.

Seer looked over at her as Sideswipe and First Aid disappeared into the entrance. "Wheeljack decided to experiment with Embers. How was it done in yours?"

"Shockwave decided he wanted to experiment with Sparks." Wildfire moved past him and started into the hole in the hill herself.

"Come on." Kid Flash fixed Joshua and I with a serious gaze while Seer stared at Wildfire. "We've got a lot to talk about -- and not just the war that's taking place on this metal planet, either."

I nodded, then followed after him as he zoomed into the hill and downward. It took a moment for my hoverboard to adjust to the much more even terrain that the inner slope had, but we were soon at the bottom with Kid Flash and the others in a larger chamber...where three more Cybertronians already were.


	26. Gladiator Counterparts

** Maria's POV **

Wildfire's movement hitched a bit when she saw the three other Cybertronians, and I was quick to find out why: all three of them looked like First Aid, Jolt, and Coil did back home, except...well, for one thing, Coil was Jolt's size, and for another, they all looked so tired and dented that it was hard for me to believe that these were the same Cybertronians who I knew the counterparts of.

First Aid -- my dimension's First Aid -- let out a gasp and instantly went to the other three Cybertronians. "You're hurt!"

Jolt reacted almost instantly, pulling back from her when she tried to touch a gash in his armor. The scared look in his optics made our medic pause.

"It's all right, Jolt," Seer said as he walked over. "She means you no harm."

Jolt looked between First Aid and Seer. "But she's--"

"I'm not like the Autobots out there," First Aid replied quietly. "I'm just...from a place where the Autobots aren't that bad."

"Aren't that bad?! Their so-called medic nearly tore me in half!" Jolt motioned to his middle, where a thick scar circled his waist like a ring. "I still have some pieces that don't work right!"

"Joshua?"

"Right." Joshua jumped off my hoverboard at First Aid's call, and he walked over.

The alternate First Aid's shocked, staring gaze instantly went from her counterpart to my fellow Reploid. "A Mini-Con that looks like a human?"

"Reploid, actually," Joshua replied. "It's short for Replicating Android. We're designed to be able to mimic organic thought processes and feelings -- especially those of humankind. Especially helpful, considering that Maria and I used to be human."

Their gazes latched onto me, and I gave a hesitant wave. "Uh...hi?"

Kid Flash looked between the two of us. "Okay, that should _not_ have been possible."

"You're a kid that can use superspeed; I'd say that's pretty impossible." I jumped off my hoverboard, and it attached to my back like it usually did, getting a wide-eyed stare from Kid Flash. "Did you ever get a good look at what happened in Dakota? Static and Gear have abilities that you'd probably think were impossible, too."

"Well, maybe, but--"

"Wildfire? Is that _really_ you?"

Kid Flash and I turned our heads, and I saw Coil's counterpart moving towards Wildfire with wide optics.

Wildfire shook her helm. "Yes and no. I'm from another dimension, like that kid over there." She looked over at Kid Flash, then back at Coil. "Tronus told us what happened to the Wildfire you knew about."

Coil's shoulders sagged, and his wings drooped. "Oh...."

"What are you doing here, if you're from another dimension?" the alternate First Aid asked.

Joshua pulled out what looked like a large welder from behind his back. "We're here because your world needs help, and we're going to give it help. Which means doing something about Optronix."

I nodded. "Yup. We can take Kid Flash back to his proper home dimension, too." I jabbed a thumb at the teenager superhero, and he stared at me with an incredulous expression.

"Seriously? I thought that there'd be no way to get me home!"

Wildfire snorted. "Maria's a World Jumper. With her, anything is possible. And I mean _anything."_ She turned and looked at Seer. "But we can talk about that later. Right now, I want you guys to come back with us so that we can work together to push back Optronix. If you want peace as much as you do, you're going to have to join a side in order to do what you can to completely stop the war and destroy the other side -- or, at least, destroy their ability to fight back. And from the sound of things, you don't like what the Autobots in this dimension are doing."

Seer frowned, then nodded. "That is most certainly true, yes. However, your counterpart, as you have been referring to your dimensional twin, was much more insistent that we stay out of the war and take care of our own, rather than be involved and forced to fight again."

Wildfire raised an optic ridge. "She was a pacifist?"

"Indeed. I take it you are not?"

Wildfire snorted. "When you fight in the gladiator rings, you tend to lose any thought of liking peace and quiet very much. I don't like fighting certain _kinds_ of Cybertronians, but I don't like sitting still very much, either."

"Neither do I," I spoke up. "If there's anything that can be done in order to keep me busy or to make the world a better place, I'm usually doing it."

"Are all Mini-Cons -- er, Reploids -- this insistent that we join a side?" Jolt was still keeping his arm away from First Aid and Joshua, but then the alternate Aid finally just grabbed his gashed arm and held it so that First Aid and Joshua could start looking it over. "H-hey! Aid, they could--"

"If they were going to destroy us like the other Autobots, they probably would have done so by now," Aid replied seriously. "I don't think they're here to infect us with the Hate Plague or the Rust Plague."

First Aid was taken aback at this. "The Rust Plague? Definitely not!"

Joshua frowned, and I wondered if he was getting curious about what it was that Aid was referring to. I was kind of curious, too, but I got the feeling that now would be a bad time to ask about them.

"We're just going to need your help for a little while," Sideswipe said. "If you don't like it, you can go back to being neutral, or you can just help us out if you feel like it and when. The Autobots can't be allowed to get off the planet, and we're going to need a lot of help if we're going to be able to do so. Are you willing to lend us a hand?"

Kid Flash laughed. "Yeah! I'm definitely feeling the aster about this!"

The statement got him a number of stares, and I simply sighed and shook my head.

"Not very many people do wordplay like Nightwing, Kid Flash," I said. "You should probably lay off it until I get you back home." I paused, then smirked. "You're really going to have a time of it when you get back though."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kid Flash frowned at me.

I was about to answer, but then I saw the look in Sideswipe's optics. I shrugged. "I'll tell you later, when we're back at Tronus' base. It's...kind of a long story, and I'm getting the feeling we don't have much time."

Sideswipe gave me a nod in response, while Wildfire gained a crooked grin.

Seer stared at Wildfire, looking cautious. "I know that you have been through different situations than we have been, and your...Spark is clearly conveying what it is that you are feeling, but you have to understand that there is much that has been done to and against us because of actions on both sides. We are...very reluctant about swearing loyalty to any team that could prove to be our downfall."

Wildfire's crooked grin faded at Seer's words. "Yeah, I get having that kind of fear. I wanted to stay out of it at first, but then I got too involved. Tends to happen when you spend the night in the Hall of Records after running from Kaon."

I looked up at her at that, interested. I knew that Wildfire had joined up with the Autobots and knew something about the Decepticons, but I didn't know that she'd run from Kaon when that had happened.

Seer certainly wasn't expecting her to say that, either. "Your story is different from ours...and you are sincere, I can tell that much." He looked over at Coil, Jolt, and Aid, as First Aid and Joshua continued to do what they could for their wounds. "They want us to join with the Decepticons, in order to assist in turning the tide to stop the one calling himself Optimus. I am unsure if we should follow."

"If Wildfire says we should do it, we should," Coil responded instantly, his wings up and alert. "I never liked that other guy."

"This isn't our Wildfire," Jolt pointed out, frowning at Wildfire. "We shouldn't listen to everything that she says just because she looks like our Wildfire used to."

"Oh, really?" Wildfire walked over to the mech and brandished her fist in his face before causing it to explode with flames. "I may be different, but that doesn't mean that I can't hold my own against my opponents. And I've been working on a few new moves, too, so don't think that I'm some one-trick turbofox."

Jolt's optics moved back and forth between the flaming fist and Wildfire's face, and he visibly swallowed and nodded. "I-I see."

"Good." Wildfire withdrew the fist and stepped back. "Do you have a reason that those monsters would be after you?"

Jolt didn't look too happy at the question, and when Aid placed a servo on his shoulder, he said, "I took something that they were making. Now they can't use it."

"What did you take?" Joshua asked, interested.

"Does it matter? They want me dead." Jolt sighed.

"The Decepticons would probably be able to protect you," First Aid spoke up. "I mean, they're really nice and have to worry about the Autobots right now, too, so...."

The three neutrals looked at each other as Seer frowned. I couldn't help but wonder if we were going to be able to convince them to come with us...or if we were going to have to go back and leave them alone.

"Well, no matter what you guys decide, I think I'm going to follow them," Kid Flash said, jabbing a thumb at me. "If she's my ticket home, then I'm gonna have to be near her or else I might miss my chance."

"We're going to have to go to my home to drop everyone else off before I can do that, but I will get you back there." I grinned at the thought of Kid Flash meeting Ratchet and Optimus after he got back to his world.

Kid Flash gave me an odd look. "You're going to have to tell me about what's happened since I left."

"I'll get to it -- I promise." I chuckled, and Wildfire smirked for only a moment.

Seer let out a sigh. "Well, I am not about to let Kid Flash go out in the world alone without us being near him to help keep him out of danger. I am not entirely sure that the Decepticons will be able to properly care for him, as he is organic and not mechanical."

"They're going to need a proper medic, as well," Aid noted. "And I'm not about to let Jolt or Coil stay alone." She looked at the two mechs, frowning. "And you're not about to say no, either."

Jolt tried to protest, but Wildfire, Aid, and First Aid all fixed him with their serious, disapproving gazes, and he closed his mouth and ducked his head. "R-right...we'll come."

"Yay!" Coil started dancing around Wildfire happily. "So, what are we gonna do now?"

"Now, we're going to go back to the base," Sideswipe responded. "Which means that we're going to have to make the drive across the--"

"We won't have to, actually." Jolt gave them a smirk. "We can use the tunnels to get over there, no problem."

"Tunnels?" I blinked. "You guys can make tunnels in this metal?"

"More like they were already there," Aid replied. "The planet is a connection of interconnecting parts, and there are tunnels and passageways that we can take to and from different parts of the planet."

"But, no one has used them for travel in cycles," Wildfire muttered. She frowned, then looked over at Seer. "On our world, at least. Have you been using them?"

"It's the only way to keep ourselves properly hidden," Seer admitted. "The Autobots and Decepticons don't make use of them. They prefer to be far more...forward with their confrontations."

"So, where can we get into the tunnels?" I asked.

"Over here." Jolt walked over to a back wall, and he rapped against a section of the metal wall. It slid forward and over easily, revealing a large hole that went down into darkness. "We keep it dark because if anyone is down there, then they won't be able to see us. Our dark vision is good enough."

Wildfire gave a nod, then transformed down into her alt mode. "Maria, Joshua, get in. This is going to be a while, and Morgen and Katie would have Ratchet bolt me to the wall you two wandered off somewhere."

I nodded at that, then ran over and took shotgun. Joshua followed after and took one of the back seats.

Kid Flash whistled. "So that's your alt mode, huh? Looks fast." He grinned. "But not as fast as me."

"You're getting in here too, kid." Wildfire's holoform appeared in the driver's seat. "I don't care that you're fast, but I'm not going to let you out of my sight for a second."

"Really? What makes you think that I'm going to get in there?"

"We'll tell you about what's going on on your world if you do."

Kid Flash was sitting next to Joshua in an instant. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Wildfire's holoform looked amused as Sideswipe and the others transformed down into their alternate modes; Seer, Aid, and Jolt looked similar too their counterparts' forms, but they had a distinct, alien, blocky shape to them -- probably because we were in a different dimension and we were on Cybertron, not on Earth. Coil, though, looked like he was some kind of heavy-duty van rather than the moped he was back at home -- considering that the Coil here was, well...bigger.

"Okay." Sideswipe's engine revved. "We need to get as close to the Decepticon base as possible. Think you can get us there?"

Jolt gave a laugh in response. "Yup!" Just follow me!" He drove into the tunnel, and the other neutral gladiators followed after him, then Sideswipe, First Aid, and Wildfire.

"So, what's going on back at home?" Kid Flash asked as soon as we got into the tunnel.

"Well, the Reach haven't come back." I turned and looked back at him, grinning. "The planet's pretty much safe from them, and they shouldn't be coming back to bother it anytime soon. Mostly because of the other visitors that you guys have."

The grin that had been on Kid Flash's face faded instantly. "Other visitors? Don't tell me that we've got other problems!"

"Well, that depends on the faction that you run into," Wildfire responded. "And there's two of them -- one's allied with your Justice League, and the other one is...well, let's just say they're at odds with everyone." 

"Factions?"

"They're in a war; of course there are going to be two sides. One side believes that peace is only achievable through tyranny."

"Well, that's an idiotic idea." Kid Flash snorted.

"The other side -- the one the Justice League is allied with -- believes that freedom is the right of all sentient beings," I added, smiling at the memory of meeting Optimus for the first time.

"Well, that's bet-- hey, wait a minute...."

Wildfire and I exchanged grins as Kid Flash looked between us.

"That sounds a _lot_ like what's going on here." Kid Flash groaned. "Don't tell me that there are Cybertronians on Earth! You mean we have to deal with that war, too?"

"Our planet is having trouble with it, as well," Joshua pointed out. "And we don't have superheroes like the Justice League to help us. So you are actually far better off."

"There's a difference between your world and this one, though," I spoke up. "Roles are reversed -- the Autobots are the good guys, and the Decepticons are supposed to be the bad ones. And Megatron is _terrifying_ when he's being possessed by Brainiac."

Kid Flash stared at me. "Seriously? That happened?"

"Yeah, it happened. And they nearly killed everybody." I huffed, scowling. "Not exactly the best thing to happen after the whole Reach invasion and Unicron trying to break the planet apart when he was starting to wake up. I'm glad Optimus was able to use the Matrix to keep that from happening."

Kid Flash blinked. "Matrix...?"

"The Matrix of Leadership," Joshua explained. "It's an ancient artifact that the Prime carries. Optimus Prime -- both in our dimension and yours -- carries it with him. According to what Jolt and the others have told us, it means that Optimus has approval from Primus himself to lead the Cybertronians. I have to say, though, I am somewhat skeptical about their belief that their planet is also their creator."

"Seriously? The planet _made_ them? It sounds like something out of some of those myths." Kid Flash considered that, then shook his head. "I don't want to think about that -- I get enough of a headache when I think about how Wonder Woman claims that the ancient Greek gods are real."

I snorted. "There's an alternate universe where Thor is a member of their superhero team. What do you think of that?"

"Thor?! No way!"

"Let's get back to the topic," Joshua stated in a deadpan tone. "The Autobots are allied with the Justice League, and the Decepticons have been causing trouble for them. Maria, what were they doing when you left?"

I inclined my head. "Well, they were licking their wounds after having Megatron get mind-controlled by Brainiac. They're probably continuing with the artifact hunt from where they left off...." I paused as a thought occurred to me. "Which means they're going to go through the whole planet terraforming thing soon...."

"They've got the Justice League; they'll be fine." Wildfire fixed me with a glare. "You can't go and get yourself involved with everything that's going on, you know."

"Ah..." I rubbed the back of my head. "Right. Yeah."

"What are you talking about?" Kid Flash frowned.

"Well, there's a reason I can travel between dimensions." I smirked. "I'm a World Jumper -- it's kinda my job to travel around and make sure that all the worlds I have access to are doing all right. That's kinda why I traveled to your world in the first place -- something was going to go wrong, and I wanted to be abel to make sure to put a stop to it before it did. Brainiac probably would have gotten into all the heads of the Autobots and Decepticons if I hadn't been there."

"Yes, it got to be that bad," Wildfire said as Kid Flash started to open his mouth.

"Oh." Kid Flash blinked. "Okay then." He paused. "Wait, you said your world has _no_ superheroes, and you have aliens? How does that work?"

Joshua and I exchanged looks.

"Well, it's normal for us, so I don't know how to describe it," I remarked. "I mean, we have superheroes in comic books and cartoons, so we aren't without them, but we don't have them around in real life. That's the biggest difference."

"And because they're fictional characters, we are able to see what their secret identities are," Joshua added. "And that includes yours."

"Mine?" Kid Flash looked incredulous.

"Yes, yours, Wally West." A grin crossed my face as Kid Flash stared at me with bug eyes. "I know about the other Justice League members, too, but I'm not going to say them unless they give me permission. So no asking."

Kid Flash deflated at that, pouting. "Well, great. I've always wondered about Batman...shoot."

Wildfire laughed. "Batman would do his best to make sure that we never did it again if he found out we did tell you."

"Yeah, he'd definitely do that." Kid Flash chuckled nervously. "Nightwing too, probably."

I grinned at the memory of Nightwing training Matthew. "Yeah, that's a definite."

"So, what are the Autobots like where you're from?"

We ended up going through a good portion of the roster back at home, leaving out some bits and pieces so that he'd be at least somewhat surprised by the Autobots when he gets back home -- and when we got to the Decepticon base. I could tell he really, really wanted to dig us for even more info, but Wildfire pointed out when he tried that what we knew about our Autobots might be different on his world -- at least a little bit.

"You know, Optimus is actually a fan of the Green Lanterns on your world," I commented casually. "And that was really cool, seeing his reaction to seeing them for the first time." I gave a wide grin.

"The leader of the Autobots is a _fan_ of the Green Lanterns?" Kid Flash laughed. "Man, considering how big you guys are, I didn't think that the leader would act like a fan of anything."

"Optimus is a librarian," Wildfire responded with a snort. "He sticks his nose in absolutely everything and tries to read up on everything. On your world, he read up on the Green Lanterns. On ours, he got into the lore about the Planet Hoppers -- or World Jumpers, like Maria here."

I grinned as Kid Flash stared at me.

"So, what did he do when he found out?" The speedster gained a thoughtful expression. "Did he squeal like a fangirl?"

Wildfire let out a bark of laughter. "Optimus, squeal? I haven't seen it happen, but I'll let you know when it does. He's a reserved guy who asks more questions about things instead of any other reaction. I've only seen him glitch once out of shock, and that was back when the war was still on Cybertron."

"Glitch?"

"Faint." I shrugged.

"That's the easy way to describe it," Joshua responded.

Joshua proceeded to get into some extremely scientific stuff -- which Kid Flash instantly took too, and I pretty much blocked out because I couldn't understand half of what was being said even though I was a Reploid. I liked to know things, but sometimes, things just went over my head. Joshua and Kid Flash talking about mechanical aliens and their working parts and whatever medical problems they can have? With Wildfire occasionally getting a word in? Yeah, that went _waaay_ over my head.

I don't know how much longer we were in the tunnels, but it didn't take too long before Wildfire came to a stop suddenly.

I looked over at her holoform. "What is it?"

"Jolt's stopped and transformed up ahead," Wildfire replied. "It looks like we're going to be getting out."

I nodded in response. "Okay; good. Then we can start figuring out what we can do about those Autos."

Wildfire nodded in response to that, grinning. "Definitely. I can't wait to get my anger out on them."


	27. Chapter 27

**Maria's POV**

It turned out that Jolt's tunnel brought us up practically right next to the base, which was really cool for us because it meant less time out in the open, but it scared the Decepticons when Jolt popped up from the ground with a large grin on his face as he yelled, "BOO!"

I can't help but wonder what's wrong with him, because the Jolt in our dimension definitely didn't act stubborn one minute and happy-go-lucky the next. Maybe something happened to his Cybertronian brain....

Anyway, Tronus soon had us together again, and we were in what looked like his command center, with computers and monitors all over the place. There was even a holographic map of Cybertron in the middle in all its horrifically battle-scarred "glory."

"I'm glad to have you here with us, Seer," Tronus said, nodding to the mech. "I hope you will be able to help us push the Autobots back."

Seer nodded in response. "I hope that we will not be in this position for long, as we would prefer not to get involved. Wildfire did not like the idea of being used."

"I don't either," Wildfire said. "Ul-- Our second-in-command still grinds against me when he tries to order me around. But I'm still able to do things that I like doing." A grin crossed her face.

I nodded in agreement from where I was sitting on her shoulder. "Humans like their freedom, too. My parents were World Jumpers before I took on the job -- they know that I have to disappear sometimes, and they cover for me if it's during the school year."

"Seriously?" Kid Flash stared up at me in surprise. "You didn't mention that."

"I didn't think that it was all that important to mention." I shrugged.

"Considering that it doesn't pertain to the situation, I should think that it wouldn't be important," Shape-Change commented as she walked into the room. She paused when she saw Seer, Jolt, Aid, and Coil, and she gave them a nod. "Greetings. My name is Shape-Change."

Seer's optic ridges rose. "You...you are another one of the Spark bearers."

SC gave a slight smile, and then her entire form blurred before revealing that she had copied Coil.

"Whoa!" Coil jumped back in surprise. "You look like me! How did you do that?!"

"Fascinating!" Starscream popped up behind Tronus. "You can even copy triple-changers?"

"Yeah, but I can't fly." SC shifted back to her normal form. She nodded to Seer. "My abilities apparently don't exist here normally."

Seer shook his helm. "I have not seen anything like it before. Where did you gain access to such a power?"

"I came out of the Well of AllSparks with it, which is helpful because it means I can do reconnaissance on our opponents." Shape-Change paused. "Which we should be discussing either now or after we have rested, considering the distance that Wildfire and the others have traveled already."

I didn't really want to think about sleep right at that point, considering how bad the planet was. And then there was one other issue that was hovering around at the back of my mind. "We still haven't talked about what we're going to do about my counterpart. I'd like to be able to meet her and get her out from under the Autos' control."

"Your counter--" Aid gasped. "You're talking about Dark Flare!"

Dark Flare?

Before I could ask what that meant, someone else decided to speak up.

 _"Sprechst du Deutsch?"_ Jolt asked.

 _"Ja, ich kann Deutsch sprechen und verstehen,"_ I replied without missing a beat. Oh, yeah -- you guys probably can't understand that. I just said that I can speak and understand German. I'll make sure to translate it as we go.

The Gladiator team stared at me as I folded my arms across my chest.

"You mean you can talk to her and get her to follow your orders?" Coil asked.

I frowned. "Well, I don't really _want_ to do that, but if I have to in order to rescue her...."

"Cliffjumper mentioned before that they were breaking up into factions," Joshua spoke up. "What are the factions, and what is it that they're doing that's causing everyone so much trouble?"

Sideswipe's optics narrowed. "They may be breaking up into different factions, but they're still answering to the False Prime in one way or another." He looked over at one of the computer terminals, where Sir Soundwave was standing. "Pull up the list."

Sir Soundwave gave him a thumbs-up. "You got it!" He started typing and pulled up a list of names -- written in English, which surprised me again.

"Ummmm...." I cocked my head to one side. "Wildfire, is that Cybertronian, or is that English? Because it looks like English to me."

"That's what I'm seeing, too." Wildfire nodded slightly. "I think they learned English instead of the Cybertronian we're used to."

I frowned a bit at that. "Hmmm..."

Sideswipe cleared his throat, and we turned our attention back to the monitor that the list was on.

"The Autobots have split up into a number of smaller factions that have been focusing on different battle tactics," Sideswipe said. "They're all ordered around by the Elites, which is pretty much just the False Prime at this point, along with the leaders of the different factions that are out there. The Seekers are his front-liners; I used to be a part of their group and I know how they operate. Goldbug is their leader."

Sir Soundwave brought up a picture of a mech with red optics in a glaring frown and a mouth guard with slits over his mouth.

Bumblebee, who was standing in with our group, shifted from foot to foot nervously.

"We have Wreckers, too, but they're more wildcards than any of the other factions that are out there." The picture of Goldbug changed to a picture of a purple mech with a _handlebar mustache_ of all things. "Their leader, Hot Rod, calls himself Rodimus Prime, which is just as bad as the False Prime calling himself that. Why Optronix lets him get away with it, I have no idea."

"He looks like a member of a motorcycle gang," I commented, frowning.

Joshua snorted from where he sat on Aid's shoulder. "He certainly looks like he would have a hot rod for an alternate mode."

Wildfire's shoulders shook with amusement, forcing me to move so that I could stay on and not end up falling off.

Kid Flash, who was sitting on Seer's shoulder, let out a laugh. "Oh, man! Ha! I didn't know you guys could grow mustaches!"

"That is debatable," Seer murmured in reply.

"The medics tend to work with all the factions, but they also work as their own group." Sideswipe didn't bother to look over at the monitor as a headshot of a mech with a white face and helmet with a red "V" shape on the front appeared. The mad gleam in his optics and the lopsided grin on his face made me shudder. "Ratchet is technically their leader, but none of the medics really answer to him, and the factions tend to avoid them as much as possible because of what they can do to a mech."

"That's Ratchet?" First Aid shuddered. "He looks absolutely horrible!"

"He would take that as a compliment before cutting you to pieces in order to see how you worked," Sideswipe replied in a deadpan tone. "You do not want to so much as _look_ at him, let alone run into him. He is not a mech that you want to cross paths with, let alone be in the same city with."

"Considering the way our Ratchet _pretended_ to act when we were trying to get information out of Dark Smoke back at home, I'm not surprised," I commented. "If Wildfire hadn't been helping me keep my composure....." I shuddered, thinking back to Dr. Wily.

"How can you tell if he's in the area?" Joshua asked. I could tell he was watching me out of the corner of his eye to make sure that I was going to be all right.

"The Autobots will be running and screaming at the top of their lungs about a hatchet," Sideswipe replied. "It used to be Ratchet, but someone misspoke, and it's been that ever since."

"Some things never change," Wildfire muttered.

"The Dinobots and Aerialbots are among the more dangerous factions. Made up of Cybertronians that were made and then had Embers placed inside them, they have limited intelligence and a lot of destructive power." Sideswipe glanced over at the monitor as Ratchet's headshot was replaced with a picture of a bunch of planes and a bunch of robot dinosaurs charging at each other. "Cliffjumper claims that Grimlock has actually become smart, but we have yet to see if that's true or not."

"You're saying that the Dinobots were made, and not turned _into_ those things?" Bulkhead spoke up, frowning. "That's not how it is where _we_ come from."

"Well, this isn't your universe," Sideswipe responded without missing a beat. "So deal with it."

"The little guys aren't the only ones we're havin' problems with, either," Sir Soundwave spoke up. "They've got Metroplex running around causing trouble all over the place. It's a wonder that big lug hasn't found our base out yet, and we're all glad for that, because that thing is a _klutz!"_

I eyed the monitor as what looked like a giant gray mech with turrets on his shoulders appeared there. "He looks like he's carrying a lot of firepower on him...how big is he compared to you guys?"

"He could crush us just by closing his hand," Starscream replied grimly. "Some of my colleagues had been studying the ancient lore surrounding so-called City Walkers like Metroplex, but no one had actually seen one until he had been woken up by all the fighting in Iacon. That was a nightmare to behold."

"Hmmm...." Wildfire looked over at me. "What do you think? Those friends of yours might be up to the challenge?"

I frowned. "Well...yeah, they could be, but I don't want to have to summon them over here -- the energy that I had to use in order to get us here didn't feel right, and I don't want them to have to feel that, either. We'll probably be okay, if we come up with something we can use to combat that thing." I smirked a bit. "Maybe the two of us can do something with our fire abilities. Like a Double White Flare or something like that."

I saw Joshua gain a thoughtful expression out of the corner of my eye, but he said nothing.

Sideswipe shook his helm. "Well, he's not so much of a problem as the Mini-Con is." He eyed me with a serious expression. "The one who is your counterpart."

I shifted a little. "Okay. Any idea where she is?"

"She goes between factions so it's hard to say where she is now or where she will be." Sideswipe looked over at the monitor as the picture changed from Metroplex to....

"Whoa." I blinked a couple times. "It kinda feels like I'm staring at a mirror, except for the armor and the eyes."

Kid Flash looked back and forth between me and the figure on the monitor -- an unhappy teenage girl wearing a weird-looking helmet with an opaque visor and purple-and-white armor. "Wow. You weren't kidding when you said she was your counterpart. and you want to rescue that kid?"

"She has made it rather clear to us that she doesn't like her present situation, but there is nothing she can do," Tronus replied grimly. "The Autobots have her under their control because they have access to the code that controls her. You would call it German, I believe."

"And I can speak and understand it, but I'm going to need to get her away from the Autos if I'm going to be able to talk to her without them yelling at her to kill me," I remarked dryly. "I can just hear them now: _'Sterben! Machen sie tot!'"_

Wildfire jolted, but she didn't say anything.

"What?" Kid Flash blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"'Die, make her dead,'" I translated. "Not the best thing in the world to hear, right?"

"I don't think so," Joshua said, shaking his head.

"We will have to devise a plan that will draw her out and keep the other factions busy so that we might be able to not only halt the _Ark's_ construction, but also ensure that none will be able to come and keep your counterpart from being brought over to our side," Tronus said thoughtfully. "Starscream, consult with your brothers and see where exactly the Autobots' various factions have moved to. We are going to need to know their present movements if we are going to be able to do anything against them."

"Right!" Starscream nodded, then turned and ran out of the room.

"What about us?" Bulkhead asked, frowning. "I want to see some action, too!"

"In due time," Tronus replied. "We can't move against them unless we know what their movements are, and there are times when that knowledge has won us half the battle."

I raised an eyebrow at that. I'd heard that statement somewhere before, but I couldn't exactly pinpoint where it was that I had heard it before.

"Besides, you would attract a lot more attention out there than Starscream and his brothers would." Sideswipe walked over and poked Bulkhead in the chest with a digit. "You're wearing an Autobot symbol. They don't know that you're from another dimension, and I doubt that they're ever going to let them get away from them alive if they found out that you were a 'goody two-shoes' like the rest of us."

Bulkhead frowned at that, but he said nothing.

 **"So, what are we gonna do until they come back?"** Bumblebee asked. **"There's gotta be something we can do."**

"My only suggestion for you is that you should rest up, I'm afraid," Tronus replied. "Knock Out and Breakdown made sure that there were rooms and Energon prepared for you; we don't have all that much, but it should be enough for now."

"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep," I remarked. "I mean, there's so much going on, I want to make sure that I'm awake if anything happens! I mean, you guys have a lot to worry about with Optronix running around; I don't want to end up missing anything just beacuse you told me I should go to sleep!"

"Something tells me they aren't going to just let us sleep if something does happen," Wildfire replied. She looked between me and Tronus. "Right?"

Tronus nodded. "If the Autobots are to attack us, we are going to need all the help we have in order to fight them off."

"There." Wildfire fixed me with a look. "And after having gotten us all through one of your portals, you're going to need some rest, kid."

I frowned at that and folded my arms across my chest. "I'm _fine."_

"You're going to need to be at full strength, Maria. I don't think you're there right now -- and you won't be if you stay up until you're needed."

I didn't want to admit that Wildfire was right, but....well, she kinda was. I let out a sigh and nodded. "All right, fine. But if anything happens, I want to be among the first to know."

"I will make sure of that," Tronus replied, nodding. "Knock Out and Breakdown should be arriving here soon in order to take you to your quarters shortly. Make sure that you rest well. We are going to have a hard fight ahead of us."

I nodded in response as Wildfire and the others did the same. I knew that the Autobots _I_ knew were able to fight really well -- even when they were outnumbered by Vehicons. Facing against them...well, this was going to be interesting.


	28. First Contact

** Maria's POV **

"Wake up! Wake up! We've got Autobots attacking!"

My eyes snapped open as I heard Cliffjumper's panicked voice reverberating through the hallway. As I leapt to my feet, Joshua and Wildfire quickly rose to theirs.

"Sounds like we've got trouble," Wildfire noted. She gave a sly grin. "Ready for a fight?"

"Yeah!" I jumped onto my hoverboard and flew up so that I was at a level height with Wildfire's shoulder. "I'm definitely ready to go!"

"Same here," Joshua spoke up. He started running for the open doorway, and paused as soon as Shape-Change appeared in the doorway.

The shifter scooped up Joshua in one servo. "It sounds like we have the Wreckers coming for us. Bulkhead went ahead of us with Sideswipe in order to see how many are coming."

"Wreckers, huh?" I grinned. "Then Mr. Handlebar Mustache is going to be out there, too, right?"

"Most likely." Shape-Change nodded.

"Let's go and give them a nasty surprise," Wildfire said, grinning.

We left the area of the base that was the Decepticons' sleeping quarters, and we instantly arrived in the communication hub that we had been in the night before. There were Decepticons running all over the place, and Tronus and Starscream were standing in the middle of the room next to the holographic map of Cybertron, pointing in different directions and barking orders.

"Where are they coming from?" Shape-Change asked as we came to a stop in front of the two of them.

"Rodimus seems to think it would be wise to knock on our front door," Starscream responded, shaking his helm. "Sidesiwipe and Bulkhead have already started to confront them. We're trying to get more out there presently."

"We're ready now," I said, bringing up a fist. "We can head out there and join them and give those morons a taste of what we can do." I gave a wide grin.

"I'll agree to that," Wildfire said as a grin came over her face. "Besides, they know that my counterpart's dead, right? Me showing up should give them a good scare."

"Are you even capable of going against them?" Starscream responded.

"I've fought beings that are capable of controlling time and space before." I jabbed a thumb at myself. "Wildfire and Shape-Change are both gladiators, and I don't know what kinds of tricks Joshua has up his sleeves."

Joshua actually looked a little smug at that. "Well, Jolt and I have been working on a few things, and I thought it would be high time that I field tested what we have come up with."

Starscream stared at him while Tronus raised an optic ridge.

"Well, if you are so sure of yourself...." The leader of the Decepticons motioned in the direction that we had come from.

Starscream looked at Tronus in surprise for a moment, then looked over at us. As soon as he saw the determined looks that we had on our faces, he blinked for a moment, then sighed. "You are that determined to go out there?"

"A fight's a fight," Wildfire responded.

"And if there's anything we can do in order to help out, I'm more than willing to lend a hand," I added.

_ Boom. _

My head turned sharply when I heard the muted explosion. "And that definitely sounds like something that needs help! Wildfire, let's go!"

"You got it."

We took off towards the entrance instantly, Shape-Change and Joshua following after us.

It didn't take us too long to reach the main gate; Wildfire pushed the dented metal to either side of us and forced her way out into the open.

"Looks like someone tried to cave in the doors," Joshua noted, frowning slightly. "That's definitely something that is going to need to be repaired later."

"Lookit! More fresh meat!"

We turned sharply, and Wildfire suddenly slammed into a green-and-purple mech with glowing red eyes. The mech let out a hysterical cackle as he scrabbled at her armor, but his own was rusting so much that he wasn't able to get a proper grip.

I gagged when I saw now only the rust, but large gashes in his armor that were coated over with the same pink Energon substance that Knock Out had given us. "Gross!"

"So, this is an Autobot, huh?" Wildfire squeezed her arms around the mech's middle and spun before throwing the mech back at the small group of similarly-painted Cybertronians that were coming at us. They got knocked down like bowling pins. "Pathetic."

I saw Shape-Change put Joshua down on the metal ground, then straighten herself. "I think it's about time we show them that they aren't going to be able to take us down so easily."

Wildfire nodded in response. "Flare-Up, Joshua, stay back and don't get into the main fray. You can fire off long-range attacks, but don't get in grabbing distance."

"Sounds good to me." I started rubbing my hands together. "Long-range is my specialty."

"I have a few things that can be tested at this distance," Joshua said, nodding.

"Good!"

Wildfire suddenly lunged forward, and a pair of swords sprung out of the armor on her forearms. Shape-Change followed after her at a slightly slower pace, and it almost looked like her arms and back were shimmering somehow.

I found out why when a pair of cannons somehow appeared out of _nowhere_ on her back.

"Whoa! Those are some big guns!"

"Well, you'd think she'd have to be called Arsenal for _some_ reason," Joshua responded to my exclamation.

"Hey! A little back-up would be nice!"

I turned when I heard Bulkhead's exclamation, and I caught sight of Bulkhead and Sideswipe holding off another group of green and purple mechs.

My hands burst into flames, and I focused on gathering as much energy as I could as quickly as possible while compacting it into a tight fireball between my hands. Then I took it in one hand, drew back, and threw it as hard as I could. "Take this!"

The fireball went flying in a bright red-orange streak, disappearing into the group of "Autocons" a moment before it suddenly expanded, sending the Autocons flying in all directions.

Bulkhead and Sideswipe skidded back, their arms covering their faces as little spurts of flame were scattered about. I felt relieved when I saw that they weren't hurt by the blast.

"Wow!" Bulkhead lowered his arm. "That was some blast!"

Sideswipe sent me a look. "Do you think you can keep that up?"

"Yeah," I called back. "That was something that I've been working on; I can handle a few more of them, but then I'm going to have to fall back on some of my weaker moves."

Sideswipe gave a nod.

_ BOOM. _

An explosion of blue smoke rose up from the group that Wildfire and Shape-Change had rushed towards.

"Well, that worked."

I looked down at Joshua and stared when I saw him inspecting what looked like a small, futuristic shotgun of some kind. "What is _that?"_

Joshua looked up at me. "Just something I've been considering field testing. The shots create large explosions in the presence of large amounts of fire. It's basically a compact grenade launcher made with tightly compacted Energon capsules."

I blinked. "...whoa. That's a bit overpowered."

Joshua shrugged. "We're small people. We're going to need to be able to defend ourselves if we come across opponents larger than us." He paused. "I'm never giving this to Miko."

I nodded in agreement as one of the figures that our blasts knocked over rose unsteadily to his feet. He pointed...a rusty wheelsaw at us? Where did his hand go?

Then he started screeching in German. Just so you guys know, I'll translate everything from here.

_ "Get over here you ungrateful little traitorous pile of scrap! What do you think you're doing, helping out the enemy?!" _

I frowned at the demand, and I folded my folded my arms across my chest. _"You've got the wrong girl, you idiot."_ I took in a deep breath and pulled back my head a little before forcing my upper body forward as I forced the air out as hard as I could.

"Flamethrower!"

To be honest, it felt more like I was spitting the flames out rather than breathing them out. Either way, the flames shot towards Rodimus as I kept forcing it out. I think the flames actually managed to get bigger as they slammed into him; at the same time, I ran out of air and fire.

"Gah! This burns!" Rodimus stumbled back, trying to pat down the flames as they furled around his chest. They did fade out, but I could see the scorch marks that had been left behind all over his armor. "Whatever in the Pit you are, Mini-Con, you're going to regret doing that! And the same goes for that other blue Mini-Con next to you!"

I snorted in response and would have shouted back a retort, but Wildfire did something before I could.

"Hey." Wildfire started towards the Autocon, holding her arms at her sides as her blades became covered in flames. "Those two are under my protection. If you think you're going to be able to make them regret _anything,_ you're going to have to go through me first."

Rodimus turned his attention to her and started to sneer. "What makes you--" He stopped short, and his optics widened. "No...it _can't_ be...How in the Pit did you manage to come back?!"

The other Autocons who were struggling to get to their feet froze and looked at each other before they looked over at Wildfire.

I could only see Wildfire's back, so I couldn't see the expression on her face as she reacted to Rodimus' statement.

"That's Wildfire!" one of the Autocons yelped.

"But how?" another one demanded. "She died -- we saw her!"

"What makes you think that what you saw was me?" Wildfire's voice sounded oddly calm, which was kinda scary -- we were kinda in the middle of a fight right at that moment.

Rodimus stared at Wildfire, wide-eyed. Then he yelled, "Retreat!"

Instantly, the entire group of Autocons turned and scrambled away from us as quickly as they could, transforming into their vehicle modes or running as fast as they could in order to get out of sight.

As they were scattering, I gained a large grin. "Ha! Looks like we took care of them!"

"For now," Wildfire replied, not turning to look back at me. "They're probably going to be back with reinforcements."

"Those Wreckers don't want to rely on anyone for anything," Sideswipe replied. "But we should be careful. Now that they've seen you, rumors are going to start spreading faster than the Rust Plague. Let's get back inside and see if Megatron has any ideas for those 'bots and what we can do about them."

I frowned a bit at Sideswipe's words, and I couldn't help but feel a little hurt at him calling out opponents "bots." I let out a sigh and nodded in agreement.

Sideswipe started for the main entrance of the base, and the rest of us followed after him.

"We're going to have to get the front doors fixed!" Sideswipe called. "A couple of Rodimus' Wreckers had grenades with them; thought it was a good idea to try to bomb the doors open."

Starscream gasped as we came back into the communication hub, then scrambled out of the room as quickly as he could, yelling, "Hook! Get your team down here right this instant!"

"Hook?" I repeated, frowning. "Who's that?"

"He's a member of the Constructicons," Tronus replied. "He and his team are quite adept at making repairs to our base -- as well as each other, if Knock Out needs more servos."

Bumblebee, who was standing nearby, frowned and folded his arms across his chest. **"I kinda wish I'd made it out there to help you guys out...."**

First Aid, who was standing next to him, gave a slight smile and a shrug.

"Wildfire gave them quite the scare when she revealed herself," Shape-Change noted.

"Yeah!" Bulkhead nodded in agreement. "I guess they thought she was that other Wildfire come back from the AllSpark."

Wildfire smirked, "Well, Maria really managed to spook them, too. They thought she was her counterpart." She looked down at Joshua and added, "And they're going to be coming after you for that weapon of yours, you know."

Joshua showed his hands, which weren't holding the shotgun. "I'm keeping them in my subspace at all times. They're not going to be able to get them from me anytime soon."

I smirked. "Especially since we scared them so badly."

"While that is all well and good, we still have to do something about that ship they're building!" Cliffjumper popped up out of nowhere, frowning that us with a disapproving expression. "Their _Ark_ has to be taken down before we can do anything about the Autobots themselves!"

"But in order to take down the ship, we're going to have to do something about the ones who are no doubt guarding it," Joshua pointed out. "Since we've run into a faction of them already, they're going to know that we're going to be eventually going after their ship."

"Exactly why you will not be the main force," Tronus responded firmly.

I looked at him in surprise. "What?"

Wildfire had a similar reaction. "You wanted our help, and we're not going straight for their ship? You'd better have something good in mind, Tronus."

"I do," Tronus replied. He motioned to the hologram of Cybertron behind him, and a number of purple dots appeared suddenly on its surface. Each one of them was moving around at a slow pace. "These are the locations of the different factions of the Autobots. I'm going to have you split up into groups and attack each one at the same time."

"Do you have enough troops in order to back us up?" Shape-Change asked thoughtfully.

"I do." Tronus nodded. "Sideswipe and Wildfire will go with the Combaticons and go after the Dinobots. Be warned, as they have a large amount of power at their disposal and are extremely destructive."

Wildfire smirked. "That'll be no problem."

"Bulkhead, Shape-Change, I want you two to go after the Wreckers with the Stunticons." Tronus nodded to the mech and femme. "You two both said that you were part of the Wreckers in your dimension, so it seems only right that you be the ones to handle them. The Stunticons should be able to keep up with the Wreckers' battle styles, as well."

"Got it." Bulkhead gave Tronus a thumbs-up while Shape-Change nodded.

"First Aid and her counterpart will remain here and help Knock Out," Tronus continued, "Which means that Bumblebee, Seer, Jolt, and Coil will have to partner with each other and a portion of our remaining forces in order to combat against the Seekers and Aerialbots."

"What about the Medics and the ship?" I asked. "And what about me and Joshua?"

"And me!" Kid Flash dashed into the room, followed shortly by First Aid, Aid, Jolt, Seer, and Coil. "Don't tell me that you're leaving me out of this!"

"Do you really think that you're going to be of any help?" Sideswipe asked, raising an optic ridge. "All you can do is run fast."

"He can carry messages," Joshua spoke up. "Since you aren't using your comms, he could be a good alternative for getting messages between groups."

"Hey!" KF instantly looked offended. "I'm not a message boy!"

"Do you want to get squashed by a Cybertronian foot?" Joshua responded. "Maria can fly out of harm's way -- you can't."

"And you can't either," I pointed out, frowning at him.

"I have a few things that I want to field test that might help me in that department," Joshua responded with a strange look on his face. It almost looked like one of those sly grins that says "I know something that you don't."

KF folded his arms across his chest and scowled.

"That was exactly what I had been considering him for," Tronus replied, nodding. "Starscream has made sure to put together a few devices that are more fit for his size, so he might be able to arm himself and make sure that he has a map of the surrounding area. The same goes for you two as well, Joshua and Maria."

"Thanks." I nodded. "So, are we going to end up being messengers, too? Because I'm planning on looking for Dark Flare, if at all possible."

Seer and Aid stiffened and looked at each other at that.

I frowned at them. "What is it? Do you guys know something about Dark Flare?"

Seer hesitated, looking like he didn't want to answer. "We do," he finally said, "but it has been some time since we have come into contact with her. I believe they are keeping her somewhere near the remains of the Crystal City, but I'm afraid that I am not entirely sure about that."

"Where is that?"

Seer shook his helm. "Maria, going to Crystal City is dangerous -- there are experiments there that run wild now, especially considering that the False Prime allows them to do so. I have heard that creatures that resemble insects from Earth live there and prey on anyone who comes to near."

Wildfire stiffened. "Insecticons. Great."

"But, if they're bad guys in our universe, wouldn't that be reversed here?" I pointed out, frowning.

"That is...debatable," Tronus responded carefully. "They seem to require a hivemind leader, and as they don't have one at present, the Insecticons seem to be nothing more than primitive creatures. If we can find someone who would be capable of controlling them, then they might be of use to either faction." He paused. "Hmm...I'll have to ask my Predacons and see if they would be willing to assist me in that...." He shook his helm. "But we can solve that later. Maria, if you do want to go after Dark Flare, we first need to find her, and she only seems to appear when we aren't expecting her."

"This would be so much easier if we had a Ground Bridge," I muttered, folding my arms across my chest. "Then I'd be able to go straight to wherever she is if you guys ever find her."

"Perhaps, but we have yet to have access to that technology," Tronus replied.

"I may have a suggestion," Seer spoke up then. "If you are so intent on finding her, then perhaps it might be wise if one of us went with you in order to have your back. After all, any part of Cybertron is unsafe in this war."

"Well, who do you suggest?" I responded. "Because it sounds to me like everybody's already got a place that they're going to."

"Since Seer is so intent on this idea, why don't I take his place and join Jolt in going after the Seekers?" Joshua suggested. "I do still have a few weapons that I want to field test, and maybe using them on the front-liners would cause some major damage."

Tronus frowned at that. "And risk Goldbug getting access to them if he were to capture you? I highly doubt that would be wise."

"Yeah, that would be a bad idea," I agreed, nodding. "Especially since they already have my counterpart. But, you guys probably wouldn't let me go out on my own anyway, right?"

"Ultra Magnus would have my head on a stick if I let you do that," Wildfire responded instantly.

Sideswipe stared at her. "He would _what?_ "

"It's a human figure of speech, Sides; don't get so worked up." Wildfire shook her helm.

Sideswipe huffed in response, folding his arms across his chest.

"When are we moving out?" Shape-Change looked around us us before she fixed her gaze on Tronus.

"As soon as possible," Tronus replied. "We need to get back up to speed with fighting back against the Autobots, so we can't waste anymore time than we already have. Some of us will remain here to guard the base from any attacks that the Autobots might try to throw at us, but a good deal of us will go after what stragglers there are of the various factions. Kid Flash will serve as a messenger between groups, as we said before. As for Maria and Joshua...." Tronus paused. "I have been considering this, and I believe that you might be able to find Dark Flare if you work together, with a Cybertronian guardian to help you watch your backs."

I looked over at Joshua; he shrugged.

"Okay, then." I looked back at Tronus. "Who's going with us?"

"Cliffjumper volunteered to keep an eye on you." Tronus nodded over to one corner of the communication hub, where Cliffjumper and Sir Soundwave were doing something in front of one of the monitors. "I think that you should get along well enough."

My eyebrows shot up. Us? Going with the slightly-paranoid dimensionally displaced mech? Well, this was definitely going to be interesting.


	29. Dark Flare

** Maria's POV **

As soon as Cliffjumper drove out of the base with Joshua and me sitting in his backseat, he instantly started pelting us with questions.

"What are the Autobots like in your dimension? Who's on the team on Earth?"

"Battle-hardened, for the most part," Joshua replied. "Bumblebee and Smokescreen are like giant robot teenagers, and Coil is even younger than that."

"Arcee, Wildfire, and Shape-Change are the only femmes on the team," I added. "They're all pretty serious, they can crack jokes every once in a while."

"First Aid and Ratchet are the only medics we have--"

"--and you do not want to cross the Hatchet, or else you'll get his wrench."

"Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Shape-Change, and Ultra Magnus are the only members of the Wreckers that we have on Earth--"

"--and Ultra Magnus is the worst stick-in-the-mud that I have ever seen."

"Jolt gets along well with Ratchet and First Aid, but he mostly keeps to himself or our work."

"Sparkseer seems to be pretty wise about things, and he can tell if you ever need to talk about something that's bothering you -- at least, that's how he was way back when we first met him." I looked over at Joshua. "Has Jolt told you about that?"

Joshua nodded. "Yeah; that's how Jolt described him."

"And what about Optimus?" Cliffjumper butted in. "How is he?"

"Battle-hardened, like I said before," Joshua replied.

"He's gentle around us, but he's really serious, too," I added. "I haven't heard him laugh, or even show a glimmer of a smile."

"Seriously? I didn't think Prime would _ever_ act like that...." Cliffjumper's voice trailed off.

We bounced around on the metal ground for a bit; I'm glad that Cliffjumper's alt had seatbelts in it.

"What's your world like, then?" Joshua spoke up finally. "Where you were before, I mean."

The question caused Cliffjumper to let out a sigh. "Well, it wasn't paradise, but it never got to be as bad as this, either. We were down on Earth for our war, too -- I think the year was...2000 or something. The humans definitely weren't making robots like you two yet."

"Reploids," Joshua and I corrected.

"Fine; whatever. We had a lot more Bots than you guys do, though, and Optimus _did_ laugh. A lot, actually. He liked learning about the humans, and a lot of the stuff Spike did somehow managed to amuse him. I have no idea why, though."

"Spike?" I blinked. "Huh. Is that his actual name or a nickname? Because I don't think I've actually heard of anyone who had that name before."

"The Witwickys were a weird bunch," Cliffjumper responded dryly. "Spike's dad said his name was Sparkplug, which apparently wasn't a common name for humans."

"It's got to be a nickname that he picked up," I commented. Joshua nodded in agreement.

"Considering how you all are, I'd believe that." Cliffjumper paused. "I-I mean humans, not--"

"It's okay," I held up a hand. "Humans are different from Cybertronians; shoot, even humans are different from other humans, depending on where we grow up."

"Exactly." Joshua nodded. "If you need to be frank, don't worry about it."

"Nice of you to say that, but I know how quickly you humans can change your minds. I don't care if you're Reploids or not." Cliffjumper's wheel turned as he moved around a pile of rubble in front of us. "One minute we're best friends and the next you're trying to kill us."

Joshua and I exchanged looks at that. I raised an eyebrow, wondering if we should ask, but then Joshua shook his head. I nodded in response, then turned back to look out the window.

"So, how much longer until we get there, do you think?" I asked, looking over the torn-up landscape.

"It's going to be a while," Cliffjumper replied. "We are kinda close, but it will take a few hours. And then there's the Autobots to worry about."

"Doesn't it bother you that you know the word 'Autobot' to mean allies in the other dimension you were in before?" Joshua frowned. "I seems you've adjusted well enough to this world, but there must be at least a little discomfort."

Cliffjumper gave a short bark of laughter. "You think _I've_ adjusted? Some cycles I have to wonder! They think that the Cybertronian _I_ know is just some kind of secret code or something! And the only one who believes in Primus is _Shockwave!_ The one guy who claims he's the most logical out of all the Decepticons and messes with life is the one who's the most religious! You have no idea how weird that is!"

"If our version of Jolt was here, he probably wouldn't believe it, even if he met Shockwave," I commented. "Considering how he reacted when he _last_ saw him."

"Oh, he's had one of _those_ kind of run-ins, huh?" Cliffjumper made a sound that sounded a lot like a _harrumph._ "Is he out for his Energon?"

"He's trying to get away from him as quickly as possible," Joshua replied. "I haven't heard the complete story, but I know that Jolt would rather jump off a cliff than ever have to set his optics on Shockwave."

"He was in shock when he came back from a mission," I added. "He wasn't angry, just...out cold. If he was human, he'd probably be having night terrors about it."

Cliffjumper went silent at that. I don't know how long we went without any conversation before he said anything. "So how many of you are involved with your bots, anyway? And why are they letting the two of you go and mess around in another dimension?"

"World Jumper." I shrugged. "I have experience in this kind of thing, and we had to get Tronus back here somehow. I'm just going to be sticking around long enough so that the war can tip back into your favor, and then I'm going to get everyone from my world back home -- and then getting KF to his place afterwards."

"Besides, we're both Reploids," Joshua added. "We'd be able to handle the situation far better than Maria's family, my cousin, or the other humans that the Autobots of our dimension have allied themselves with." He paused. "Even if Miko recently gained access to an invisible set of armor, but we're not letting her go anywhere."

"Troublemaker, huh?"

I snorted. "Yup. She tries to sneak out when our 'Bots do missions."

Joshua shook his head. "She seems to be a thrill-seeker to the extreme."

Cliffjumper groaned.

** Time Break **

We ended up talking on and off about our home worlds for a while after that -- apparently, _this_ Cliffjumper landed on Earth back in prehistoric times and ended up getting woken up in the 1980s! Not to mention the fact that their base was _clearly_ a spaceship stuck in the side of a _mountain._ It's a wonder that the humans didn't do anything with them -- especially when they started befriending kids.

I couldn't help but wonder how they had managed to get through half of the stuff Cliffjumper talked about and still manage to get the kids out of their respective messes unscathed. I could understand me being in there -- I didn't squish so easily. But a kid in a wheelchair? Really? Now that was just asking for trouble.

"We're here."

I was shaken out of my thoughts about Cliffjumper's stories at his statement, and I took another look out the window...and blinked in surprise.

"That's a lot of glass," I noted. "Where did you guys _get_ it on a planet made out of metal?"

"That was before my time. Probably the only 'bots who would know about it are the Thirteen."

I gave an interested hum at that, then exchanged glances with Joshua, who raised an eyebrow.

"So, we are in the remains of Crystal City, now?" Joshua asked.

"The outskirts, yeah. I normally wouldn't go this far alone -- this place is in our territory, but the Autobots kinda have free range all over the place. It's a hazard to go anywhere!"

"I don't like the sound of that." I reached for the seatbelt, prepared to unbuckle it at a moment's notice so that I could get moving. "Are there any nearby now?"

"Nope; Starscream made sure of that. The only things to worry about here are those Insecticons." Cliffjumper shuddered. "And believe me, I'd rather not run into them."

Cliffjumper came to a stop, the glass crunching under his wheels. I slipped out of his backseat and instantly jumped onto my hoverboard -- call me paranoid, but I definitely didn't want to touch the ground with all they stuff lying around.

"I am going to need blueprints for a proper hoverboard," Joshua said as he placed his feet on the glass. "And I am going to have to clean out my boots later in order to make sure no damage was done."

"Well, I would offer you a ride, but this thing takes it out of me when I get off when it needs to recharge, and two Reploids would definitely take a lot out of me." I shrugged helplessly.

"It's all right; I've been trying to think of ways that I could create a safe hoverboard of my own, anyway. It's just that our prototypes so far aren't exactly...safe."

Cliffjumper transformed and promptly started shaking his feet. "Man, this stuff is going to take _forever_ to get out later. I can definitely feel it rattling around in my wheel wells." He shuddered, and I thought that I could almost hear a faint tinkling noise somewhere in his armor.

"We'll no doubt have ample opportunity for that later," Joshua replied. "There's a chance that Maria's counterpart is here, right? We should be focusing on that instead of the glass."

I looked up at the area around us; there were a few buildings that were partially standing, but the ones that happened to be made of glass all had one thing in common: they looked like they had been shredded and shattered. Only a few pieces of walls were remaining standing, and while the light they were refracting looked beautiful, it probably was a shadow of what the entire city used to have been capable of.

"How are we going to find her, though?" I asked, frowning. "Considering all the noise we're making with the glass, we've probably alerted anyone in the area that we're here."

Cliffjumper stiffened at that. "Oh, yeah. That probably means the Insecticons know we're here, too...that's not going to be fun."

I heard a high-pitched humming noise coming from somewhere, and I started turning in order to see where the noise was coming from.

Joshua pulled out the same weapon that he had tested earlier against the Wreckers. "They're here. Shoot to defend yourself or ward them off, but don't kill them. I don't want them to get a bad idea about us before we can ally ourselves with them."

"Easier said than done," I replied, summoning my Buster and looking up. "Those things look _nasty!_ "

Giant insects landed on the ground in front of us, sending little shards of glass flying in all directions, partially blinding me when they caught the light. The high-pitched whining noise from their wings didn't exactly help, either, and I could feel it jarring around in my head as I tried to get my eyes to adjust to the refracting light.

Cliffjumper let out a yell and promptly rammed into one of them -- I'm not sure _how_ to describe the different bugs, so don't ask which one -- and he promptly punched it in where I guess the nose was supposed to be, sending it flying backwards. "Back off, you stupid bugs!"

There came a hissing noise from the Insections in response -- not as annoying as their wings humming, but it still rattled around in my head for a bit.

I shook my head. "Joshua, what--"

"You go and have a look around for that counterpart of yours -- we'll keep them busy!"

I looked at my fellow Reploid in surprise and was about to respond, but Joshua had already lunged forward, yelling at the Insecticons. I stared after him, dumbfounded, then practically jumped back in surprise when a stray blast from the Insecticons was sent my way.

"Okay, okay!" I turned and flew off in another direction. "I'm going! Just don't kill anybody, okay?"

I didn't get an answer from Cliffjumper or Joshua, and it wasn't too long before I was flying alone across the glass-shard wasteland.

I didn't want to stray too far from where they were fighting, because this place was so big and there were so many buildings that were clearly ready to fall to pieces at any moment. I definitely didn't want to be anywhere near _those_ , but there were a few streets that looked like they were still at least partially intact -- which was really weird for me, because I felt like a squirrel running around in some abandoned city or something.

"How in the world am I supposed to be able to find my counterpart when this place is so _big?"_ I muttered under my breath.

"Counterpart? What's that?"

I felt a chill run down my spine when I heard the voice. It felt familiar, but _unfamiliar_ at the exact same time. It was so weird, but...

I turned in order to face the direction that the voice had been coming from, and I paused when I saw the figure who was standing on the glass-covered, torn-up metal street behind me.

The figure looked like a teenage girl, but everything normal stopped at the black hair that happened to be sticking out from from under a strange-looking helmet of hers. Everything else, though?

She looked like some odd-looking mishmash between Cybertronian and Reploid tech -- and I mean the tech of this particular dimension; she was wearing boxy armor that looked vaguely like mine and happened to be purple and white, but she had a helmet looked _kind_ of like the MegaMan helmet, but there were antenna on either side of her head -- kind of like Optimus', I guess. And then there was a weird-looking visor that was keeping me from seeing her eyes, too.

I blinked for a moment, then shook my head when I realized that the girl had asked me a question. "Oh! Uh...Basically, a twin, but they live on another world or alternate dimension."

I remembered a moment later that I really should be speaking in German to this person.

_ "Of course, it's rare that anyone ever gets to meet their counterpart." _

The girl stiffened instantly. "That's--"

"Ja." I nodded, and moved down in order to hover in front of the girl -- who I was sure now was my counterpart. "Hallo. _My name is Maria. And yours?"_

My counterpart back up a step, seeming startled and bewildered -- probably because I was talking in German and not barking orders at her. "Dark Flare."

I frowned. "Dark Flare? _That has to be a nickname, right? Do you have any other names?"_

My counterpart -- Dark Flare -- turned and looked away. "I'm...I'm not sure."

"Warum?" _Why?_

"My memory...it's kinda scrambled. I can't remember where I came from before...." Dark Flare trailed off.

My frown deepened. _"I get what you're saying in that, at least. But that means you can't remember your family, which definitely isn't good. They're probably worrying about you and hoping that you'll come home."_

"...I don't know about that. I can't remember very well."

_ "Well, I know that my family is worrying about me. Probably a lot, too." _ I sighed and shook my head. _"Everything must be mixed up with you."_

"Mixed up with me? How about mixed up with you?"

_ "With me?" _ I shook my head again. _"No way."_ I paused then, and considered how it was that Dark Flare was probably looking at me -- especially considering that we were counterparts with Cybertronian factions that had reversed alliances. _"But, I guess I could look mixed up from your perspective. Not that that matters in the long run."_ I looked at Dark Flare, cocking my head to one side. _"You're wondering how it is that I can speak German, right? I probably would be, too, if I was in your situation."_

Dark Flare cocked her head to one side at that.

_ "It's because I learned how to speak it. I'm not affected by it like you are. I think you're only being affected by it because that was added to you." _

"...added?"

"Ja. _There's no way that someone would just have this whole order-system thing added to them or given to them at creation -- freedom is the right of all sentient beings, so I doubt that your creator would have done this. Besides, German can be pretty difficult to learn for some people."_

I sat down on my hoverboard, watching Dark Flare with an interested expression. _"There's no way that the person I see standing before me now is everything that there is about my counterpart. Everybody's got layers -- yours are just hidden from everyone, including yourself."_ I held out my left hand. _"Come with me. I have friends you might be able to fix you and give you back your freedom."_

I couldn't really tell the expression that Dark Flare had behind that visor of hers, but I hoped that she was going to be willing to trust me. Still, there was...something stirring in my chest that was making me feel strangely tense inside.

_ WARNING! WARNING! _

I flinched back in surprise when the red words started blaring across my vision as an extremely loud alarm started going off in my ears. Dark Flare flinched, as well, but I think it was more on account of the Cybertronian hand that suddenly reached out from another street and snatched at the air where I had been a moment ago.

"Whoa!" I let out a yelp and quickly moved up into the air, barely getting out of the way of another hand that nearly grabbed me. "Okay, whoever this is, this isn't funny!"

My Buster started thrumming with a charged shot as a figure stepped out of the shadows of two metal, shredded buildings. I paused for only a moment when I realized who it was that had been trying to grab me out of the air.

"Well, well, well." Ratchet's evil twin rubbed his servos together. "This is surprising. I didn't think that I would get to see a second Mini-Con like Dark Flare -- and it speaks our code, no less! I would love to be able to tear you to pieces and put you back together again -- maybe with a few upgrades of my own, like I did with this little experiment!"

Uh oh. _That's_ not good.

"Nein!" I hissed, aiming my Buster at Ratchet. "Begone, foul monster! Charged Buster Shot!"

I fired the attack at the mad-scientist medic, hoping that the shot would whack him hard so that I'd be able to get away and warn Cliffjumper and Joshua about what was going on as soon as possible so that we could get away from--

I jolted in surprise when I saw Dark Flare fly up using jet boots and _block_ my attack with one hand and a flickering shield made of...purple flames?

I saw "WARNING!" blaring in the corner of my vision as the flames faded. Whatever they were, my system obviously saw them as bad news -- probably an after-effect of having a core that seemed to be able to sense danger whenever it was nearby.

But, it hadn't really done that since I was in on Neo-Mobius....

"Good!" Ratchet's blood-red optics seemed to shine like rubies. _"Now, capture her alive! I want to be able to see how she works while she's still at least partially operational."_

I gritted my teeth as my orange-red flames flickered across my shoulders.

"Understood," Dark Flare said without any hint of emotion. She promptly came flying at me, bringing back a fist.

I bent back, then twisted so that I spun in the air. The hoverboard scraped against Dark Flare, blasting her back with a well-timed boost of the jets below. I twisted around again, ending up underneath my counterpart.

_ "Why are you doing this?" _ I demanded.

"I don't know anything else!" Dark Flare curled in on herself, then uncurled suddenly, sending out a wave of the purple flames.

I reacted instinctively. "Flash Fire!"

...yeah, that wasn't my _best_ idea.

As soon as the flames reached me, instead of being absorbed into me and giving me a power boost like they normally do, they instead _seared_ across my armor, the pain somehow reaching into my core, causing me to wince and let out a yell of pain as I swung back and down a little further.

Ratchet burst out laughing. "Interesting! So, it seems that--"

_ "Shut up, Hatchet!" _ I roared back, flames covering my entire entire body as I shot up again. _"I am not some experiment, so don't treat me as such,_ dummkopf!"

Yeah, insulting Ratchet? That wasn't such a good idea, either.

The evil Hatchet's optics narrowed into thin, red slits as I prepped what I hoped was an attack that would make sure that Dark Flare was only stunned and not damaged. He let out a loud screech, and lunged forward. _"You will pay for calling me such a thing, Mini-Con!"_

I yelped and swerved out of the way as Ratchet nearly rammed into me. "Okay, not cool!"

I saw Dark Flare move out of the way, her stance impassive as Ratchet turned, glaring at me with a snarling expression. I didn't know whether or not I would be able to get her to help me get away from this mad scientist freak, but I got the feeling that Ratchet would just make sure that anything I said would end up getting thrown right back at me.

"Joshua, I could really use some of that help right about now," I muttered, slowly backing away from Ratchet. He looked scary right now, and that was making me nervous.

So, I did the first thing that came to mind.

"White Flare: 25 percent! Fire Spark!"

I threw the white, sparking ball of fire at the two of them, then turned and fled as fast as my hoverboard could fly.

_ Vwheeeee! _

I stopped short and clamped my hands over my ears, my Buster deactivating momentarily as the high-pitched sound of wings flapping echoed in my head again as two large Insecticons suddenly rushed down the street...

...and right past me.

I turned and watched them go in surprise, my eyes widening when I saw them suddenly transform and land on two feet, snarling.

Ratchet paused. "Well, this is new."

The two Insecticons continued to move forward, Dark Flare taking up a position between them and the mad medic. Since I wasn't exactly sure what was going on, I simply hung back, keeping my ears peeled in case any more Insecticons tried to come up from behind and attack me.

Ratchet was starting to look less eager now. "Ah...hmm. _Dark Flare, let us bare a hasty retreat. I do believe we are no longer welcome here."_

And with that, he turned and disappeared down the way he had come at a dead run. Dark Flare followed after him a moment later. The Insecticons transformed and flew after them, leaving me wincing at the high-pitched sound of their wings as they faded from sight.

I rubbed my ears, frowning. "What just happened?" I stiffened a moment later when I realized that I had nearly forgotten something important. "Oh, yeah! Joshua and Cliffjumper! I hope they're all right!"

"Red and that little human Mini-Con friend of yours have a few scratches, but they're no worse for the wear."

I turned when I heard the unfamiliar voice, frowning when I caught sight of a slim femme Cybertronian standing not too far away from me, with multiple green optics and a large number of bug-like legs.

"Pardon me for asking, but who are you?" I asked, feeling wary. My "WARNING" system wasn't going off, but it didn't hurt to be careful.

"The name's Black Arachnid," the femme replied. "I'm a Predacon, and apparently, the 'queen' those Insecticons have been looking for." She gave a crooked smile.

I relaxed slightly at that. "I'm Maria."

"Nice to meet you." Black Arachnid motioned for me to follow her with a couple of her extra arms. "Come on. Megatron needs us to get back to the base and regroup. He wants to look over what happened."

I rubbed my arm, still feeling some of the sting from Dark Flare's purple flames. "Yeah, I'd definitely like to go over that."


	30. Chapter 30

** Maria's POV **

When we got back to the base, it took us a little while to be able to get in, what with the Insections that came back with us. I'm glad they didn't fly too close to Cliffjumper, though, because I definitely didn't want to lose my hearing because of their wings flapping as fast as they were!

After Black Arachnid had taken the Insecticons out of the hub of the base, saying something about a "Predacon Barrow" -- probably their part of the base -- Tronus turned his attention to Cliffjumper, Joshua, and me.

"I see you did not return with Dark Flare, but rather the entirety of the Insecticons," Tronus noted, raising an optic ridge. "Is there, perhaps, a reason for this?"

"I did run into her, but she was with the Hatchet." I folded my arms across my chest and scowled. "I was about to get her to come with me, too, but that _dummkopf_ promptly told her to capture me alive so he could tear me apart and put me back together." I shuddered. "The Insecticons chased them both off."

"Ratchet was in the Crystal Ruins...?" Tronus gained an apprehensive expression. "I did not think that he would have ventured out there for fear of the Insecticons."

"If he is a mad scientist, he was probably out there for experimentation," Joshua replied. "Although, it's hard to tell with people who aren't quite right up here." He tapped his head.

I snorted. "At least I know that calling him 'Hatchet' still sets him off like it does back at home, but I did call him a _dummkopf_ , too. That isn't what worries me about running into him, though -- it's Dark Flare that does."

"You were rubbing your arm all the way back," Cliffjumper noted, frowning down at where Joshua and I were standing on the floor of the base. "What happened? Overcharge that Buster weapon of yours?"

I shook my head. "No; it's something else. Dark Flare can use fire, like I can, but there's something...not right about them. I tried absorbing them using Flash Fire, like I can for other attacks, and these flames _hurt._ That hasn't happened before."

Joshua turned and looked at me with slightly widened eyes. "The flames hurt? That definitely shouldn't be possible."

I nodded. "Yeah, and what was even weirder was the fact that they were purple, but I'm just guessing that's because of Flare and not anything else." I paused. "At least, I hope that's it."

"You hope?" Tronus raised an optic ridge.

"Back at home, Dark Energon is purple. I'm getting the feeling that it's different for you guys, since your normal Energon is pink instead of blue."

"Your _normal_ Energon is _blue?"_ Cliffjumper stared at me in surprise. "Seriously? That's the color of Nebulon back home!"

"What?" I frowned.

"That is besides the point at present." Tronus held up a servo. "Our Dark Energon is what you humans might call a sickly green, so Dark Flare should not have infected you with it, if her flames were purple."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness."

"However, if her flames did harm to you when they normally do not, then perhaps it is likely that Dark Flare's energy source is the exact opposite of your own."

I blinked. "The exact opposite...?" I frowned, and looked down at myself, thinking about the Atlantean crystal that was resting in the center of my chest. "I didn't think that my core would _have_ an opposite, considering where it's from."

"Everything has an opposite, Maria," Joshua pointed out. "It's simply a matter of how that opposition shows itself. Maybe your cores have opposing frequencies that don't mesh together well."

"Well, we won't be able to find out that right now, will we?" I snarked back, scowling at my fellow Reploid. "Dark Flare probably isn't going to show up for a while -- I almost had her coming back with us, and the mad medic caught me in the act! If that's the case, they're probably going to make sure that I won't get that chance again."

"However, all things considered, she might be a valuable asset to them," Joshua pointed out. "I doubt they're going to stop putting her to use just because she ran into you and nearly changed sides."

"Joshua does bring up an excellent point," Tronus confirmed, nodding. "Dark Flare has been quite the troublemaker for us because of the Autobots ordering her to attack us. She changes hands quite frequently, so it would make sense that there would be an Autobot accompanying her in the Crystal Ruins. However, to have Ratchet there with her when you found her is...worrysome."

"Plus, he said that he'd taken _her_ apart and put her back together," I pointed out. "And she told me that her memory was scrambled -- she knows that she was someone else before this, but whatever they did to her makes it so that she can't remember properly. I just hope there's a chance that we might be able to reverse that damage."

"Ah; yes, that is certainly worrisome." Tronus frowned.

"Hang on a minute!" Cliffjumper held up a servo. "Are you saying that Dark Flare _wasn't_ created by those crazy medics?"

"Exactly! From what I could see, she looked like a human underneath all that armor! Here, look -- Mirage Break!" I made a motion with my hands, summoning a mirage-figure of Dark Flare. "She's got black hair poking out from under that helmet, and from what I can tell, her face doesn't look like a normal Cybertronian's, either."

Joshua walked around the mirage I had created, an interested expression on his face. "Hmm...yes, you do bring up a good point there. She does look like a Reploid that has had Cybertronian parts grafted onto her. It might be a little difficult removing them, however."

"Do you think you can, though? If we do manage to get her?"

Joshua looked over at me, a slight frown on his face. "I might be able to do something, but I doubt that any one of us will be able to reverse the damage that was done by this particular version of Ratchet and his lackeys. If I had our version of Jolt here with me, it might be more likely -- if Dr. Light were here, even more so, since he no doubt has experience reversing damage like this."

I frowned. "Well, I don't think I'll be able to pull either one of them through into this dimension, considering how it felt when we came here." I shuddered. "I definitely don't want to try _that_ too many times. The energy felt wrong, and...it felt like there was glass shattering under my fingers or something."

"Shattering glass? Interesting analogy." Tronus turned to look at Cliffjumper. "We are going to need to remain on the alert if we are going to be able to find where Dark Flare will appear next. If at all possible, it might be wise if we have Maria present for when we next find her, so that we will be able to do what needs to be done in order to bring her over to our side."

"They know about Maria now, though," Joshua responded immediately. "If anything, they're going to know that Maria is going to be coming after Dark Flare. I predict that traps will appear in the future that may ensnare Maria, using her counterpart as bait."

"Yeah, there always is that approach," I muttered, frowning. "And I do _not_ want to end up in a situation like _that_ again _._ I know it wasn't long, but thinking about Dr. Wily still gives me the willies." I shuddered.

"Well, this version of Ratchet may be far worse than anything that madman could throw at you," Joshua pointed out. "Especially considering what has been done to your counterpart."

"I _definitely_ don't want to think about that _."_ I shuddered.

Tronus raised an optic ridge. He looked like he wanted to ask about what it was Joshua and I were talking about, but I'm glad that he decided against it. "If Ratchet and Dark Flare are both aware of your presence, it is likely that the other Autobots will quickly learn about you, as well -- especially since we have finally managed to bring the Insecticons over to our side. Things will most likely become far more difficult for us as the Autobots become more reckless as they attempt to destroy us utterly."

"We can't let that happen," I said, frowning.

"Well, yeah, but what do you expect us to do?" Cliffjumper responded. "They've got us backed into a corner!"

"Well, we're here now, so we're going to help you guys get _out_ of that corner," I responded instantly.

"We don't expect it to be easy," Joshua added, "But I doubt that the Autobots will be able to hold their advantage for much longer."

The way that Joshua said that made me look over at him with a frown. There was something about it that made me wonder if he knew something that the rest of us didn't yet.

I was tempted to ask right then and there if he got visions like I did, but then a yellow and red blur practically flew into the base and came to a stop between Joshua, Cliffjumper, and me and Tronus.

"We've got trouble!" Kid Flash warned. "Jolt and Seer are having trouble with those Seekers, and they've got some mech named Jazz with them!"

I jumped in surprise. "Jazz?"

"One of Optronix's most elite Autobots," Tronus explained quickly. "He serves as one of his bodyguards. But to have him working with the Seekers...this isn't good. Have you alerted the others?"

"The Seekers are so close to here, I figured I'd just come straight back and see if I could get any big guns." KF looked over at Joshua and me. "If you guys want to come and help, too, I think that no one'd object."

I slammed my fists together, grinning. "I see no problem with that. If we've run into one of them and they're already aware that I'm around, then I may as well make sure they know I'm not to be messed with!"

"Maybe, but it would probably be a wiser if we took precautions to ensure that you weren't kidnapped," Joshua replied. "Or, if you were, that you didn't accidentally let anything slip that they could use to their advantage."

I frowned. "Are you saying that I'd do that?"

Joshua paused. "Considering that you have been in far nicer situations on various worlds such as Neo-Mobius where you were never mined for information and were instead able to confront your opponents head-on or with allies by your side, yes. Battling against these giants is going to be much different from a Pokemon battle."

"I know that!"

"So why did you give Dark Flare your real name, then? Or explain to her what a counterpart was?"

I started. "How did you--"

"Maria, if you are going to go out there against opponents who could possibly use what any of us have said or done against us as a weakness, we can't be free with our words." Joshua paused. "It's for this and other reasons that I'd like permission to activate your Protocol."

I jolted when I heard my fellow Reploid's question. "J-Joshua!"

"Protocol?" Kid Flash looked confused. "What's that?"

"One of Maria's...additions." Joshua looked me over with an expression that made his indigo eyes almost seem to be piercing. "And it could be useful in this situation, considering that it could keep us connected."

"If you're referencing what I _think_ you're referencing, that only seems to have worked with Cybertronians so far," I hissed. I didn't like the fact that Joshua knew about my Protocol and what it could do when I hadn't revealed _that_ portion of the information I had to everyone yet -- only Wildfire knew that I could have mental connections with Cybertronians, and that had only happened _once,_ when Orion Pax had used it in the DC alternate dimension that _had_ the Cybertronians in it, too! "How is it that you--"

"Protocol Alpha-Beta: Activate."

I was forced to cut myself off with a gagging noise as the program came into effect; my armor changed from its normal red, orange, and gray to a complete copy of Joshua's as all sorts of data was downloaded into my head.

I stumbled back a step and grunted, rubbing my head as a minor twinge of a headache settled in for a couple seconds. I pained noise escaped out past my teeth, but I didn't say anything.

"Whoa." KF looked between me and Joshua, wide-eyed. "What was that?"

"The Protocol," Joshua responded. "Maria's had it activated before, but this is the first time that I've been the one to do so."

I stopped rubbing my head as the headache faded, and I watched him somewhat warily. Now that the Protocol was thrumming in my head, there wasn't really much that I was going to be able to do unless Joshua said an order that was directed at me.

_ I hope you know what you're doing. _

Joshua quirked an eyebrow and gave a small smirk for a moment. _-I do. Trust me, Maria. I have a plan-_

I felt a chill run down my spine as Joshua's thoughts echoed in my head. I don't know whether he realized it or not, but the Protocol took "trust me" to be an _order._ Whether it was meant to be or not, I was pretty much in his hands until he deactivated it.

"At any rate, now that it's active, we're going to have to move quickly," Joshua spoke aloud. "Kid Flash, how close are the Seekers?"

"Close," KF responded instantly. "It took me five minutes to get from there to here at a medium pace."

"Maria, can you match that with your hoverboard?"

I stiffened when Joshua and KF looked over at me. "I've never clocked it, but I know I can go at decent enough speeds."

"That's not going to be good enough." Joshua frowned, then looked over at KF. "Do you think you can drag us there with Maria piggybacking on your speed if we ride on her hoverboard?"

"Maybe? At least it'll cut down your total weight, so there won't be as much friction under our feet." KF looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, it'll probably work. At least I don't have to worry so much about my metabolism being wonky after getting here through the Speed Force."

Well, that explains why he wasn't snacking on a protein bar or something similar as soon as he got here.

"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to go?" Cliffjumper asked, frowning. "We're big -- you...you could still get squished, even if you're not human."

"Maria has some experience, and our smaller size means we can be far faster than you are," Joshua replied, looking up at the red mech. He looked back over at me and looked me up and down, probably taking in the fact that I was standing in such a way that I was ready to move to respond to anything he said at a moment's notice. "Get your hoverboard out. We're going."

My hoverboard detached from my back and fell into a low hovering position next to me, and I stepped on. Joshua stepped on behind me a moment later, placing his hands on my shoulders so that he would be sure he wouldn't fall off.

"Okay." KF looked at the two of us for a moment, then smirked and held out a hand. "I'd like to see you two show them who's boss."

_ -You can show your personality and interact with our allies as you like; make sure you check with me before you say anything to our opponents- _

At that mental nudge from Joshua, I gripped KF's offered hand and gave him a dry smirk in response. "They won't know what hit them."

KF's smirk widened into a grin, and he turned and started running. I forced my hoverboard to boost up to as quickly as it could go, mentally praying that we would be able to stay on it and not get thrown off.

_ -I'll handle us remaining on. You handle the speed- _

_ Understood. _

I forced the hoverboard to go even faster as we zoomed out of the base and off in the direction that KF had come from.

Hopefully, we would be able to reach the battlefield before our allies were overpowered.


	31. Chapter 31

** Maria's POV **

True to Kid Flash's word, we got to the battle in a little over five minutes. When we got there, though, I was startled by the Auto-cons we were fighting against as well as the animal-like Cybertronians that were running around on all fours or flying around the heads of the Auto-cons. Most of my attention was on the Auto-cons, though --specifically, the one that was apparently holding his own against Jolt, who was starting to look worse for the wear.

"Jazz!" My eyes widened in surprise.

"You know that bot?" KF turned and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I know a couple of his counterparts," I replied, looking over at him. "He was the first Cybertronian I ever met."

"That isn't the case here." Joshua stepped off the hoverboard, and actually summoned his Buster -- something that I hadn't seen him do yet. "It looks like he's the least damaged out of all of them, which means he most likely scares the medics enough that they won't give him 'upgrades'. Concentrate on downing some of the weaker Seekers before turning your attention to the stronger ones; they won't have anyone they'll be able to hide behind. Set your Buster as however you see fit, and don't rely on your fire abilities too much because of the Embers here."

I nodded.

"And if any of our allies give any suggestions for tactics, you have the option of following through on them if you think they're good ideas for what is going on around us."

I grinned. "Gotcha."

KF looked confused. "Does this Protocol thing you activated pretty much turn her into your little soldier?"

"Pretty much, yes." Joshua nodded, and I couldn't help but feel somewhat annoyed at being called his "little soldier." "Maria, let's go. We don't have time to be just standing around."

"That's the exact signal I was waiting for!" I promptly sent a boost of energy into the hoverboard and took off, leaving the two of them behind.

I decided to set my Buster to its normal default at first -- mostly because I wasn't sure how strong the Auto-cons were in comparison to it, even when most of them were weakened from not having gone to a medic when they should have. These Seekers seemed in much better shape than the Wreckers had been, though, which was going to make this a bit more difficult.

I started charging up a normal Buster shot and aimed it at a mech who was painted a rather sickly purple. His face had been slashed, and the mech looked...oddly familiar.

I decided against thinking about it, brought up my Buster, and fired at the mech's chest.

"Gah!" The mech stumbled back as my shot hit him, gritting his teeth as he stumbled back, _electricity_ sparking over his frame. "Why, you--"

I shot him again, and the exact same thing happened, causing the mech to collapse onto his back as more electricity sparked over his body.

"Sunstreaker!" someone barked. "Hey, someone get that Mini-Con! She took out Sunstreaker!"

"Sunstreaker?" I asked aloud. "He hardly looks like him." I turned to face the mech who had spoken and fired at him, then moved in order to dodge the bright red blaster fire that started coming in my direction. An explosion quickly followed, sending more mechs flying in all directions. I caught sight of Joshua -- a scope of some kind attached to his Buster -- running into the fray, aiming upward and shooting off large blasts that I didn't normally see coming out of a Buster.

"Whoo! I heard that there was one new Mini-Con, but I didn't think that the Decepticreeps had another one!"

I turned my head when I heard the familiar -- but unfamiliar -- voice. Jazz was holding Jolt back and away from him by gripping his neck, and it was clear that Seer was having trouble with a gold-yellow Autobot that I guessed was Goldbug.

"Where did they manage ta find you two?" Jazz grinned maliciously. "I'd like to hear _dat_ pretty little story."

My eyes narrowed, and I felt like I wanted to throw some snark at the mech, but Joshua promptly responded with a jab that told me I shouldn't. So I prepped another charged shot and fired it at Jazz, going for a freeze shot instead this time.

"Do you really think that a lil' thing like that is gonna do anythin' ta--" Jazz was stopped short when the blast hit him, and he grunted as a crystal of ice appeared on his neck. "Ooh! That's cold!"

Jolt grabbed Jazz's arm with both hands and gripped it tightly, a snarl appearing on his face as an electrical charge went from his servos and through Jazz's armor. That _really_ caused him to flinch.

_ -Good shot- _ I saw Joshua give me a nod.

One of the four-legged Cybertronian animals threw back its head and let out a howl. "We've got them on the ropes! Keep going!"

A large number of other howls rose up a moment later, and the Auto-cons were quickly sent packing with even more scratches, gouges, and wounds than they probably did before. I think a few of them were limping severely.

Joshua had me come down, and I lowered my hoverboard down to his level as Goldbug started yelling at the retreating Auto-cons.

"Don't think that you can run away so easily, you fools!" Goldbug roared. "I will have all your heads if you don't come back here and fight!"

I shuttered a bit. Goldbug's voice _did_ sound like Bumblebee's, but it was warped too, somehow. I wondered if that was what Bumblebee would sound like if he ended up getting infected with Dark Energon like Megatron had been.

_ -Perhaps- _ Joshua interrupted my thoughts.

Seer whacked Goldbug over the head, making an even bigger dent than what had been there previously. Goldbug stumbled back in response, wincing as he pulled out his set of blasters which looked more like mini-cannons.

"Begone," Seer said, frowning. "I doubt that you are going to be able to withstand our combined might."

Goldbug stood there glaring at Seer. He started to move his blasters to aim them at Seer, but then every single animal-Cybertronian present had blasters come out of their shoulders and aim at the Auto-con. The sight of every single blaster and Buster we had pointed at him made him hesitate; he turned and started running away, transforming into his vehicle mode as he went. Within moments, the Auto-cons were out of sight.

And Dark Flare was definitely not anywhere with them.

"Well, looks like I'm not going to get to meet Dark Flare again today." I deactivated my Buster and folded my arms across my chest, then looked over at Joshua.

Joshua nodded slightly. "Yes, that does seem to be so. It's likely that they are going to be keeping a closer eye on her now than they were before."

"You didn't have to get involved in the fight, you know. Now they know that you're here, too."

"They knew about me already, in a way. The Wreckers no doubt saw me when they attacked our base before."

I hummed at that. "True. But the Seekers didn't know about you, and now Jazz does. Optronix is probably going to be put on our scent soon enough, and that's going to make this even more difficult."

"He was probably going to start looking for us, anyway." Joshua gave me a sidelong glance and frowned.

"How did you manage to shoot ice? That looked like a regular energy shot before it collided with Jazz."

I stiffened when I heard the curious voice above us, and Joshua and I glanced up. I felt a chill run down my spine when I saw a single blue optic sitting in the middle of a strangely-shaped face that was yellow, rather than the purple that I'd seen only once before.

"That is a technique that Maria picked up thanks to her previous travels," Joshua replied, sounding a little stiff. "I am Joshua. And you are...?"

"Shockwave," the mostly-yellow mech replied with a cheery tone. "It's a pleasure to be able to meet members of a friendly team of Autobots from an alternate dimension. I would offer to act as an intermediary between our two dimensions, but I have been told that traveling between our two separate worlds takes copious amounts of energy, and I already have my hands full with possible alliances and talks with the other races that are around us in this dimension."

I blinked at that, not exactly sure how to respond in this situation. Thankfully, Joshua did.

"You are an ambassador in this dimension? Interesting. The one that we have heard of in ours is, unfortunately, a scientist who has a knack for doing some unethical experiments." Joshua nodded to me. "Maria and her family have taken to referring to him as 'Frankenstein,' after a character in a human novel who became known for attempting to bring a monster to life."

"Oh, goodness! You make it sound like I act like Ratchet in your dimension!"

I rubbed the back of my head at Shockwave's exclamation. "Er, well...I wouldn't say that you and Ratchet are _completely_ identical. Frankenstein likes logic, and this world's Ratchet is...well...."

"Ah. Yes, that certainly would make a difference."

"That was nuts!" KF suddenly appeared between Joshua and me, catching us by surprise. "Kinda wish that you two had shown off a little more, though! I mean, seriously, if the kid's a pyromaniac, let her be a pyromaniac!"

"If I did that, there's a chance that the Decepticons' Embers would be affected," I pointed out. "I have a technique called Flash Fire that _absorbs_ fire attacks. If I use it anywhere near, say, Shockwave here, the results could be catastrophic. So I'm going to make it a point to just not use it."

KF gained a scowling expression and folded his arms across his chest. "Well, I guess I can see what you're saying, but I'd still like to see you show off sometime."

"Maybe later."

"We should not stay out in the open for much longer," Seer warned. "I believe the Seekers may return with reinforcements if we stay in one place for much longer." He transformed down into something that looked like a truck, but with a alien feel. "Kid Flash, Maria, Joshua, you may ride with me, as most of the others present do not have cabins made for passengers."

Joshua gave a nod in response, then walked over to Seer. I followed after him. KF was more reluctant, but he eventually simply threw up his hands and zoomed through Seer's open door ahead of us.

The area that Seer had open for us didn't look like the insides of most trucks or other vehicles that I knew about; it had short, metal benches instead of actual seats, and there wasn't really a window or anything like that open to the outside. If I had still been human, I'm sure that I would have made it a point to complain about how hard the seats were, but because of my new mechanical nature, I found that I actually didn't care all that much.

I sent Joshua a curious look and raised an eyebrow as we sat down; he glanced at me in response and gave a slight shake of his head. I was going to be under Protocol for a little while longer, and I made sure to let him know that I wasn't entirely sure about that idea, but that I _hoped_ he knew what he was doing.

"What's going on between you two?" KF asked as he sat down on the bench behind us. Seer closed the door, leaving us in near-darkness as he started moving forward. "Maria's more talkative than this normally, right?"

I gave a one-shoulder shrug in response.

"And what's with the armor? Does it change color like MegaMan's when she changes her weapons or something?"

"No, that's not it." I shook my head. "I don't have a copy ability like Rock does."

"Well then, what's going on? And don't leave me out of the loop here!"

"I must admit, Maria's...Spark does feel slightly different," Seer's voice rumbled around us.

I looked at Joshua, raising an eyebrow. _How much should we say?_

_ -Minimal- _ Joshua looked at me with a quirked eyebrow, then turned and looked back at KF. "Maria has a similar system to what Dark Flare has, but it is only activated by a certain code that is known by a select few. Maria and I _agreed_ that it might be wise if I activated it for the time being."

I was tempted to roll my eyes at Joshua's statement that I had "agreed" to it, but I decided against it so that Joshua could keep up the charade and keep as much of the Protocol secret as possible.

"What?! No way!" KF leaned forward and stared at me. "So _that's_ what you meant when you said that you had activated her Protocol!"

"I find it hard to believe that Maria even had such a program in her in the first place," Seer pointed out.

"I didn't _want_ it at first," I responded. "The moron who added it didn't think that I used to be human." I frowned. "And it used to be a lot worse."

Joshua gave a slight nod as KF sat back, eyebrows arched up in interest.

"Really? Who was the guy who decided to add it?"

I gave him a deadpan look. "Where do you recognize the armor from?"

"What does-- oh." KF blinked. " _Oh._ I see."

Joshua and I both nodded. Seer rumbled, but he didn't say anything, for which I was thankful for.

** Time Break **

It didn't take us too long before we were back at the base, and by the time we got there, everybody else had come back from their confrontations against the other Auto-cons.

Wildfire raised an optic ridge when she saw my armor.

I jabbed a thumb at Joshua, who was standing next to me on a part of the computer terminal. "His idea."

Wildfire's other optic ridge joined the first, and she gained a smirking expression that clearly said she knew I didn't like it. I rolled my eyes in response.

"We have had confirmation that Dark Flare was out in the Crystal Ruins with Ratchet at the time that you were all out," Tronus said, nodding over in my direction. "Unfortunately, they were unable to bring her back to base because of Ratchet's interference."

Wildfire snorted. "Well, _that's_ just great. I suppose that means we're going to have to go on a manhunt for her now."

"That may be difficult," Seer responded. "Especially since the Autobots are aware of Joshua's and Maria's presences. The next time we find her, we may be placing ourselves in a trap."

"There usually is that kind of a risk involved," I commented, frowning slightly. "If that happens, we're going to need to be able to rely on our strength in order to get out of that situation."

"Easy for the Pokemon Trainer to say, but what about the World Jumper walking among giants?" Joshua asked casually as he peeked into my head again. I stiffened in response.

"A what now?" Starscream asked, confused.

"That's besides the point," Shape-Change replied. "We are going to need to think ten steps ahead of our opponents if we are going to be able to not only prevent them from finishing the _Ark,_ but also to give you more territory to work with and defend. I doubt they are going to leave the remains of Crystal City alone now that you managed to bring the Insecticons back here."

"Indeed," Tronus agreed. "We will have to work in phases, if we are going to be able to accomplish everything and ensure that Dark Flare is brought to our side and looked over properly. Maria indicated that the Autobots' control over her was added, so there is a chance that who she really is is being suppressed by the added programs."

"Like I'm being partially suppressed by the Protocol right now." I sent Joshua a look, but he didn't spare me a glance in return.

"I believe that I may have a possible plan for that," Joshua spoke up. "Are you all willing to hear me out?"

Tronus and Starscream exchanged looks at Joshua's question, while Wildfire and the others from our home dimension exchanged looks.

"What makes you think that your plan is going to be any good?" Bulkhead asked, frowning.

"Well, that depends on whether or not what I've seen is actually going to take place."

I stared at him. _You're having visions!_

_ -Well, yes. Don't tell anyone -- I like being able to have something of an advantage in certain situations- _

I felt a chill run down my spine as the Protocol reacted, and I gave a slight nod in response.

"Well, if Joshua believes that he might be capable of assisting us, then I see no problem in hearing him out," Tronus replied. "What are you suggesting we do, Joshua?"

Joshua shifted his stance a little, and he gained a small, almost knowing smile that I didn't know whether or not to be excited or scared about. "Well...."


	32. Chapter 32

** Maria's POV **

Joshua's plan turned out to be pretty solid. Tronus didn't let Joshua follow through with it until the next day, though, so we stayed in the base for the rest of the day -- for the most part. Black Arachnid took off with the Insecticons to defend the Crystal Ruins, and the Predacons left -- they claimed they liked the fresh air, but I get the feeling that it was mostly because they were getting weird looks from the rest of us. Especially since most of them looked like animals from Earth and...well, I think that Joshua was wondering how Predacons could exist when the Maximals clearly weren't in this dimension.

I'm at least glad that Joshua deactivated the Protocol before we split to recharge for the night, because I didn't want to find out how it was going to be if I fell asleep with that thing still active.

The next morning, we all got together in the communication hub again -- at least, Joshua and I did, as well as Tronus, Starscream, Cliffjumper, and everybody who had come with us from our home dimension. The rest of the Decepticons who were on base had been split into squads yesterday and were getting ready on their own to head out when we were ready.

"Everybody know where they're going to be heading?" Wildfire looked around at us, grinning widely.

A number of us gave nods in response; I ended up giving my Cybertronian partner a thumbs-up and a large grin while I felt Joshua's approval humming through the back of my head. He'd reactivated the Protocol as soon as he'd gotten the chance to, which meant that the two of us were obviously going to be sticking together again.

"Let us move out," Tronus said, nodding.

"I still can't believe that I'm going to be stuck in here," Kid Flash complained from where he was standing with Sir Soundwave at the back of the room. "You guys get to have all the fun, and that isn't fair at all."

"You're human; you'd squish a lot more easily than those two over there," Jolt looked over at Joshua and me with a smirk on his face. "Super speed or not, you would get stepped on eventually, and we don't want that to happen."

KF folded his arms across his chest and scowled at us. I gave a shrug in response.

"All right, you two." Cliffjumper transformed down into his vehicle form and opened one of the doors. "Get in. We're going to go find that Dark Flare kid."

Joshua and I jumped down from the computer dashboard we had been standing on and made our way into Cliffjumper's backseat while the others scattered in different directions -- mostly, out of the base. They avoided us as Cliffjumper drove out so that we wouldn't get slowed down.

_ Joshua and I are going to leave the base separate from everyone else so that we can respond quickly whenever the others report that they see Dark Flare somewhere, _ I silently recited to myself. _Everyone else is going to split up and either go after the_ Ark, _or cause general havoc and start planting themselves in various locations around the planet in order to start pushing the Auto-cons back. Hopefully, we won't spread ourselves too thinly while we're doing this...._

_ -Oh ye of little faith- _ Joshua responded with more snark than I'd ever really heard from him. _-You know that I have been having visions as you have been. I know what is coming-_

.... _You'd better uphold your promise about me and Dark Flare._

_ -I will. We have to find her first, however- _

I grunted in response.

_ -By the way -- did you gain anything as a result of the activation?- _

My eyes moved to my right arm, and I clenched my fist a little. _My Buster has an electric charge after-effect to my normal shots._

_ -Hmmm....- _

That's when our communication channels were suddenly blown _wide_ open.

_ ::Boom, baby! Everybody's connected!:: _ Sir Soundwave's voice blasted into the back of my head. _::Hopefully, the Autocreeps won't be sneaking in and listening in on our frequencies::_

_ ::Considering we're only doing this for today's sake, I don't think that it's really going to matter all that much:: _ Sideswipe replied.

_ ::Dinobots sighted:: _ Shape-Change reported. _::We're going in now::_

_ ::Be careful:: _ Wildfire responded instantly. _::Grimlock is smart and_ nuts. _You're head's going to be hurting as much as everything else by the time you're done::_

_ ::I'll keep that in mind:: _

I shifted in my seat as I heard what sounded a lot like blaster shots and yells going through the communications system. I felt like I was going to leap out of Cliffjumper's alt mode at any moment, but we were driving up to a lookout point that would make it easier for us to be able to reach any of the battlefields as soon as Dark Flare was spotted.

Hopefully, we weren't going to be up there for long, because I wanted to find her and get her fixed as soon as possible.

Cliffjumper came to a stop up on top of a cliff that Joshua had picked after looking over multiple maps of Cybertron. It was a central point of all the places where the Auto-cons were thought to be by the Decepti-bots and Joshua, so we should be able to get to any of the groups at any time.

"When are the fireworks going to start?" I stepped out of Cliffjumper's backseat, Joshua following after me. "Shape-Change has already run into the Dinobots...."

_ BOOM! _

I turned sharply when I heard the explosion, catching sight of a dust cloud that I didn't think would be able to form on a planet made of _metal._

"Interesting." Joshua inclined his head. "There must be a metal compound here that creates a substance similar to dust."

_ "RWAAAAAAR!" _

I stiffened. "What--"

"That's the Dinobots all right." Cliffjumper transformed into his bipedal mode, a serious look on his face. "I'd know that roar anywhere."

"Who is it?" Joshua looked up, interested.

"Sludge. He's the one that looks like...an apatosaurus, according to you humans."

I looked over at the dust cloud as it cleared up, and my eyes widened when I saw the large, metal dinosaurs that were stomping around in the distance.

The T-Rex that was in the group bellowed down at Bulkhead, who didn't back up very far in response. Shape-Change was pulling out those guns on her shoulders and was shooting at one of those flying dinosaurs -- probably a pterosaur of some kind.

"So, _that's_ what Dinobots look like." My eyebrows went up. "I thought they were going to look more beastly than that."

"I think the main point is that they look like dinosaurs," Joshua replied. "Or, what they _think_ dinosaurs looked like in ancient times on Earth for us."

"What do you mean by that?" I frowned at him.

Before Joshua could answer, I heard what sounded like the noise from a jet of some kind. All my senses instantly went on alert, and I turned quickly in order to find out where the sound was coming from.

"You!" Cliffjumper exclaimed when his optics connected with the purple-armored girl that was hovering in the air above our heads.

"I've been ordered to bring in Maria alive for experimentation," Dark Flare said in a monotone voice.

_ -Maria. Do what it takes to disable her movement and weapons systems- _

_ Understood. _

I backflipped onto my hoverboard and brought out my swords with a _shiing!_ before I lunged at Dark Flare with a serious frown on my face.

_ "You want me?" _ I snarled in German. _"Come and try."_

Dark Flare jerked at my statement, and she pulled back a bit and out of my reach as I made a slash at her. "Do you really think that you can stand against me? Master has made me capable of fighting against Cybertronians larger than you and I. What makes you think that you can do the same?"

_ Permission to activate White Flare? _

_ -The 25 percent version- _

I smirked, then brought back a hand, summoning a white-yellow sphere of flames. "White Flare: 25 percent! Fire Spark!"

I threw the fireball, a thin strand of flame remaining connected with my palm as I swung it around so that it _would_ collide with Dark Flare despite the fact that she was flying around in order to avoid it.

"Gah!" Dark Flare cried out in pain while sparks of electricity ran across her body, causing the jets in her feet to short out. I flew down and wrapped an arm around her middle in order to catch her before she hit the ground.

"She's out cold," I reported as I flew down and landed next to Joshua.

"Was that you using 25 percent of your power?" Cliffjumper asked. "What happens if you use all of it?"

"That's not important right now," Joshua replied. "Let's get Dark Flare back to the base; I want to start working on her as soon as possible so that she doesn't fall back under Auto-con control."

"Auto-con?" Cliffjumper snorted, but he transformed down into his vehicle mode and popped his doors open. Joshua, the unconscious Dark Flare, and I quickly got in, and he quickly drove off towards the base.

"We've got Dark Flare," I reported over the communications system from the front passenger seat. "We're heading back to base now."

_ ::Really? That's great!:: _ Bulkhead exclaimed.

_ ::Don't let your guard down:: _ Wildfire warned. _::There's no way they would be able to let her get away so easily::_

"Cliffjumper, roll down a window, please," Joshua said calmly. I turned and looked back at him just in time to see him throw something out of the car. Dark Flare was lying sprawled over the backseat, and he was already starting to take off her armor and go through her insides.

If he had been attempting to do human surgery, I'd probably have been the one who was disgusted. Cliffjumper, on the other hand....

"Oi! Watch what you're doing back there! I don't want fluids leaking all over my seats!" Cliffjumper exclaimed.

"I'm just looking for parts that might not belong -- like the tracking device I threw out the window," Joshua explained, not looking up as the window slid shut. "They might have been planning on using her to follow us to the base. I'll have to look over her more in order to see what else might be different...Maria, I'm going to need to cross-reference your build and mine with Dark Flare's in order to see what might have been added physically. I'm going to need other help if her mental state is to be fixed."

The Protocol sent a shiver down my spine at Joshua's statement. "When do you want it?"

"I'll let you know after we return to base; I'm not particularly picky."

I gave a nod in response, relaxing a little. At least I wasn't going to be sending the data directly into his head. Not yet, anyway -- I didn't know what it was that Joshua had in mind for that.

Joshua paused in the middle of rifling through Dark Flare's insides, then started reattaching her armor. "Well, there's not much more that I can do for now. Hopefully she won't need much more work, because I don't have very much of my equipment with me in my subspace."

"You still haven't taught me about how that works," I commented.

My head was rather abruptly hit with an onslaught of information that made me flinch a bit and blink in surprise.

"Whoa. Uh...okay. Huh. Give me a bit to go through this."

"Go ahead," Joshua replied. "It's going to take some time to get used to the idea that you have a pocket dimension attached to you at all times, so I don't expect you to understand it as soon as you receive the knowledge. I certainly didn't."

I didn't respond to his statement; my mind was already starting to sift through what Joshua had sent over the Protocol connection. Mostly, it was memories of lectures that Jolt had given Joshua on the subject, and then his mental commentary, which helped me out -- Jolt and Joshua have their own technical jargon that can go over my head, and the translation of some of the terms helped.

Hopefully, I'd get a chance to test it out later, after we'd gotten home and everything was taken care of here on this world.

** Change in POV **

Across the battlefields of Cybertron, in between the various factions, a number of Auto-cons stopped suddenly and visibly flinched. Ratchet appeared to be the worst off, as he stumbled back and away from his opponent -- Knock Out -- with a wide-eyed expression of shock.

_ ::Something's wrong:: _ Wildfire spoke up. _::Dark Jazz here just looked like he'd been hit with a plasma blast to the Spark. Anybody else getting similar reactions?::_

First Aid moved to dodge an attack from a mech who looked eerily similar to Red Alert. "Dark Ratchet reacted the same way, but I don't think it was an ordinary plasma blast reaction...."

"Who...who dares?!" Ratchet started to look around wildly. "Someone has made off with my precious experiment and severed all ties! How?!"

_ ::Joshua, did you do something?:: _ Shape-Change asked. _::Grim is saying something about someone severing ties with the human-Mini-Con::_

There was nothing over the communication system for a moment, but then the naturally blue-armored Reploid responded.

_ ::Yes, I did do something. I removed what I thought was a tracking device from right next to Dark Flare's core. I did notice a reaction from her core in response to this, but I haven't been able to see what else will need to be removed or altered in order to allow Dark Flare to have free will:: _

_ ::Good work!:: _ Tronus praised. _::We will continue to push them back::_

_ ::The Ark is being damaged even as we speak:: _ Starscream added. _::We are having some difficulty with Goldbug, but Bumblebee has been able to predict his movements with marvelous accuracy!::_

**_ ::He knows all my moves! Of course I'm gonna -- hey, get back here, you twisted excuse of a counterpart!:: _ **

_ ::Don't get too carried away:: _ Joshua warned. _::We don't want them to think that we are going to be permanent additions to your team::_

_ ::I believe Bumblebee's presence alone is making that quite clear:: _ Seer replied in a dry tone.

"You...you will all pay for taking my experiment from me!"

First Aid was abruptly thrown back into the present as Ratchet lunged for Knock Out, his servos almost seeming to turn into claws.

"H-hey! Whoa!" Knock Out jumped back, just out of reach. He swung his Energon spear around, the end of it sparking with pink energy. "Keep on your toes, guys! They're still dangerous!"

"We getcha, boss!" came the response from a yellow-and-green mech who had introduced himself as Hook. "Come on! Let's give these guys a real aft whipping!"

"YEAH!"

With that, the Constructicons started attacking their opponents with renewed vigor, while First Aid finally managed to push back the Red Alert lookalike.

"This is going far too easily," First Aid murmured. "I'm worried."

_ ::...I am, too:: _ Wildfire agreed. _::Joshua may have good plans, but this is going_ too _well so far. We'd better be prepared in case something unexpected happens. We are still going to have to deal with Metroplex -- wherever he is -- and the Decepticons not having Trypticon up and moving right now worries me::_

_ ::Keep your optics open, all of you:: _ Sideswipe added seriously. _::We probably don't know everything that the Autobots have at their disposal::_

_ "::Right!::" _ everyone responded at once.


	33. Repairs

**Maria's POV**

As soon as we got back into the pretty much empty base, Joshua got Cliffjumper to get us into the medbay so that he could start looking at Dark Flare properly.

As soon as we got in there, the first thing that Joshua did was take over one of the berths and start pulling a lot of devices and tools out of his subspace.

"Maria, I'm going to need those blueprints," Joshua said as he started taking off Dark Flare's armor again. Since I was standing nearby, I could see her inner wiring clearly -- and that included the glowing, star-shaped purple crystal that was right at her core.

I frowned as I mentally grabbed the data Joshua wanted and shoved it over in his direction. That crystal was familiar, but I couldn't exactly place where it was that I had seen it before.

"We can figure out her origins later; right now, we need to concentrate on saving her life," Joshua said as he read my thoughts -- again. "It looks like Auto-con Ratchet is very capable at his job, despite his pension for experimentation. The only thing that really isn't needed for Dark Flare to operate is this." He tapped the visor on her helmet. "I'm going to have to remove it if I'm going to be able to check her mental processes anyway, but I don't know what's going to happen if I do manage to remove it."

"Is there anything that you're going to need me to do?" I asked, leaning over as Joshua started to shift his sitting position.

"Not yet. I might need to set up a temporary artificial reality so that you can keep an eye on her while I work, but I'm going to have to wait and see before I can make the call." Joshua motioned to a spot a short distance from where he was working on Dark Flare. "You can sit over there for now. I'll let you know when I have need of you."

I nodded, then went over and sat down, crossing my legs and resting my hands on my knees.

"How can you stand it?"

I looked up at Cliffjumper and raised an eyebrow as he frowned down at me. "Stand what?"

"That Protocol thing. Why do you even have it in the first place? Can't you get rid of it?"

I frowned. "No. And it's better than the alternative."

Joshua gave me a mental warning prod, telling me I shouldn't say anything else. So I decided to settle into a light recharge so that I wouldn't get pestered with the questions Cliffjumper obviously wanted to ask.

If Joshua needed me, he'd wake me up.

**Change in POV**

"How are you so calm about that Protocol thing you have over your sister?" Cliffjumper asked, turning his attention to Joshua.

Joshua paused in the middle of removing the helmet from Dark Flare's head. He had already managed to get the visor removed, and it was startling how similar her face was to Maria's.

"Maria isn't my sister," Joshua said, looking up at Cliffjumper. "She's my neighbor."

Cliffjumper blinked at that, then shook his helm. "Regardless! I can't believe how calm you are about turning that thing on and taking away Maria's free will like that!"

Joshua looked down at Dark Flare for a moment, and blinked slightly when he realized that Dark Flare was actually slightly younger than Maria. He looked over at Maria, noticed that she had gone into a temporary recharge, and returned his attention back to Cliffjumper.

"Maria didn't have the program initially," Joshua said finally. "And I wasn't the one who added it to her, either. She is aware of how it can be activated, and therefore only gives the knowledge of the activation code to certain people. I'm one of those people."

" _Why?"_ Cliffjumper practically hissed.

"On occasion, desperate times may call for desperate measures." Joshua shrugged. "Maria has started to be on edge about it as a result. I think the only one she trusts to use it right now is Wildfire. The two were quite close for twelve years."

That said, Joshua returned his attention to Dark Flare, and he pulled off her helmet. Black hair splayed in all directions.

Joshua put the helmet to one side, blinking. "Hmm. I didn't think that she would have purple highlights. I wonder what her creator was thinking." He sent a sidelong look over at the helmet, then picked up a hammer -- one of the few out-of-place tools he had mixed in with what he had pulled out. He looked between it and the helmet for a moment, then shook his head and put the helmet back down. "Not yet. I don't know if she's synched with it and if it would cause her any programming damage...."

Cliffjumper stared at the Reploid for a moment, then shook his head and muttered something under his breath. "I'm gonna go see if there's anybody else who needs help out there. Sir Soundwave's still on-base, so if you need anything, make sure you talk to him."

"Right." Joshua didn't look up as he started going through Dark Flare's insides again. There had to be a hook-up somewhere so that he could look into Dark Flare's code so that he could see what exactly it was that was wrong with her systems -- and if there was anything he could do to reverse the damage that this dimension's Ratchet might have brought on.

Joshua wasn't sure how long Cliffjumper was gone from the medbay before he noticed something about his unconscious "patient," for lack of a better term.

Joshua pulled his hands away from Dark Flare's core, and the purple glow that was around the crystal faded slightly.

"Hmm...I probably shouldn't do much else here." He looked over at Maria. _-Maria-_

His fellow Reploid jolted in response to the mental prodding, but she didn't open her eyes. _What is it?_

_-Do you have any abilities like a Psychic-Type? If a Ninetales lives long enough, they are said to develop that kind of capability-_

Maria's brow furrowed. _While that is true, I didn't evolve in my time on Neo-Mobius, and I don't have a Fire Stone on me or Palkia nearby to trigger the transformation. Besides, Ninetales are supposed to have lived for far over a century before they even develop abilities like that, and I definitely haven't lived for that long._

 _-Ah, I see. Thank you for clearing that up-_ Joshua frowned down at Dark Flare. _-It seems I will have to think of another way in order to check on Dark Flare's consciousness and see what damage has been done-_

_...Have you checked to see if there's a port hidden in the back of her neck? It might be hidden underneath her artificial skin somewhere._

Joshua blinked at the suggestion, then slapped himself in the forehead. _-Of course! How could I have forgotten?-_ He moved to reattach Dark Flare's armor to ensure that her insides weren't going to be damaged, then turned her onto her side so that he could inspect her neck. Finding that there was, in fact, a slit in the artificial skin that covered her neck, Joshua carefully slipped his fingers into the slit and opened up the area a little.

 _-There it is. And it looks similar to the ones we are equipped with, so I should be able to get access to her neural net-_ Joshua turned and snatched up what looked similar to a cobalt DS, but with more places for cords to be attached. Choosing what appeared to be similar to a link cable, Joshua plugged one end into the DS device, and the other made its way into Dark Flare's neck.

The device's screens flickered to life instantly, covered in green text of numbers and letters. Joshua scrolled through, frowning. His frown only increased the more he scrolled through the code.

"Most of this looks like Cybertronian," he murmured. He looked over at Maria. "How good are you at reading Cybertronian?"

Maria cracked an eye open. "I have some knowledge, but not very much of it. And I doubt that I'm going to be of much help if I'm going to be trying to read someone's mind."

Joshua frowned. "You're saying that we are going to have to wait until the medics return?"

"Or maybe you could have called in Soundwave. He works in communications; he might know something about how to read that."

Joshua inclined his head at that. "Hmm. Maybe. I should hope so; I don't want to leave Dark Flare like this for longer than I have to." He paused. "If that is her real name."

Maria opened her other eye, picking up on Joshua's train of thought. "I've been thinking about that, as well. She said her memory's been scrambled."

"To keep her from knowing who she was before she was taken by the Auto-cons," Joshua deduced. "Which means that we don't know whether she was inherently corrupted like they are."

Maria frowned. "You think she might be?"

"We won't know until she has been fixed properly." Joshua put down the DS. "Which means we should be prepared in case Dark Flare might actually need to be a prisoner, not a partner."

At this, Maria rose to her feet and walked over and got down into a crouch on the other side of Dark Flare. "I don't think she's going to be a threat."

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what makes you say that?"

Maria looked up from Dark Flare's face. "She was more emotional when she was speaking with me, when we first ran into each other. When Ratchet intervened, she shifted to what we saw earlier. Orders from the Auto-cons must suppress her original personality as much as German suppresses her free will."

Joshua couldn't help but stiffen a bit as he watched Maria's right hand rise up and...pause, as a frown came over Maria's face.

"Hmm.... Her core...." Maria cocked her head to one side. "Huh. I was wondering if there was something familiar about that energy...."

"Familiar?" Joshua blinked. "I hadn't foreseen this."

"Not everything can be." Maria looked up at him. "Permission to investigate her energy core?"

Joshua frowned at the question. "What do you think will happen when you will?"

Maria shrugged. "Well, if I'm right, her core and mine may be able to interact. I could find out what's going on and make sure that you can do what you need to in order to fix what's going on with her. I shouldn't be caught up in what's in her head because the Protocol is active, either. What do you think?"

Joshua inclined his head at Maria's question. "Wildfire would probably threaten to melt me if I put you into a dangerous situation like this. We don't know what's going to happen if you do follow through with this."

"Well, we won't know what's going to happen until I do something," Maria replied. "Can I give it a try?"

Joshua looked at Maria with a cautious expression, his eyebrows furrowing. "Are you sure you will be able to handle this?"

"We won't know until we try," Maria replied seriously. "I'm a World Jumper. I've been saving people on other worlds for quite a while now. I think I can handle this."

Joshua felt Maria's annoyance buzz angrily through the back of his mind, and a small smile appeared on his face for a moment. The smile faded a moment later, however. "Be careful. I don't know what you're going to find when you start to investigate the core."

Maria nodded, a serious expression on her face. "Right."

Joshua removed Dark Flare's chest armor, once again revealing her purple, star-shaped crystal core. Maria sat down in front of it and closed her eyes. She sat still for a moment, then stiffened suddenly.

Joshua caught sight of a bright blue glow seeming to emit from somewhere under Maria's chest armor, and the medbay melted away from underneath him.

**Space Break -- Change in POV**

Maria stumbled and quickly found her footing, looking around in order to see where exactly it was that she had ended up.

"Huh?" She blinked in confusion when she saw the -- oddly enough -- purple and green energy that was pulsing around her. "This is weird...I thought it was going to be just purple." Maria glanced behind her, at the pulsing, soft sky blue that almost looked like she was standing underwater. "Well, at least I know where my core stops and hers begins...."

The area shifted, and suddenly a glowing, electric blue area appeared out of nowhere. A figure shimmered into existence in a moment -- Joshua, wearing a blue T-shirt and cobalt shorts instead of armor. His eyes were different, as well -- hazel with green specs.

"Joshua?" Maria blinked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"The Protocol pulled me in with you," Joshua replied. He looked around. "Interesting. This must be a place between our cores. We're probably going to have to step back into our cores at once if we're going to be able to leave."

"Sounds good." Maria nodded. "But we still have to find where Dark Flare is."

"That's not my name!"

Maria and Joshua turned when they heard the exclamation.

There was a teenage girl with black hair and purple highlights wearing a purple jacket, white shirt, jeans, and black laceless shoes with purple stripes across the top. Her fists were clenched, and there was a determined frown on her face -- something that surprised Maria.

"I thought that it wasn't," Joshua said. He looked down at the purple-green mix for a moment, then stepped onto it. There was a zap of electric blue under his feet. "Do you know your real name?"

The girl nodded, her strangely purple eyes sparking. "It's Myra."

Maria blinked. "Really? Huh."

"What are you doing in my mindscape? People shouldn't be able to get in here -- not after--" Myra paused, looking away as her entire body stiffened.

Maria and Joshua looked at each other at Myra's reaction.

Myra shook her head. "Who are you two? I didn't think anyone would be able to reach my true self. Everything that makes me who I am."

"My name's Maria, and this is Joshua." Maria nodded to Joshua, who looked a little unhappy at the introduction, but gave a nod. "We found you working for the Autobots by taking commands from them in German. You're not with them anymore, but we're trying to figure out what is going on in your head so that we can know what to fix. So that you can be free again."

Myra looked up at them sharply. "Fix me? Do you think that I'm a mach--" She cut herself off again with a choked noise.

"A machine?" Joshua finished smoothly. "No. You're a person with a mechanical body. How you got to be that way, we don't particularly care about. What we care about is finding what Ratchet did to you and reversing the damage."

The name of _Ratchet_ caused Myra's entire body to stiffen as the purple-green colors of her core started to whirl around at high speed. "You think you can _fix_ what that madman _did?!_ He turned me into a _monster!"_

Maria flinched back as Myra's form flickered, revealing her armor and the helmet.

"I'm _human!"_ she shrieked. "I'm _not_ some robot!"

Maria's eyes widened for a moment, and then her eyes narrowed, and she stomped forward, leaving behind sky-blue puddles in the purple-green, shifting mass. As she walked, the clothes that had appeared on her when she had arrived -- orange jacket, red shirt, jeans, white shoes with red stripes -- changed into red, orange, and gray armor.

"Do you really think that you're the only one who's been in this situation?" she snapped, getting Myra's attention. "Neither Joshua _nor_ I are human anymore -- he was transformed into a robot by a machine and nearly lost his free will as a result; it was only because his cousin was able to get there in time that he managed to get away before he was turned into a drone." She motioned to Joshua, who gave a slight nod.

Myra stared at Joshua. "Ratchet?"

Joshua shook his head. "This was something entirely different. A human who liked machines who followed his orders more than organics. I walked into a trap."

Myra blinked, wide-eyed. Then she turned and looked at Maria. "A-and you?"

"I was nearly killed. A roboticist saved my life. And then his enemy messed with _my_ head." Maria tapped her head with a finger, no smile on her face and an oddly dead expression in her eyes. "I was turned into a drone for a while -- no personality, no free will. I only have fragments of memories from during that time. Dr. Light saved my life, but he left a fragment behind that had attached itself to me. We _lovingly_ call it the Protocol."

The sneering tone in her voice was the only thing that gave away how she felt about the program as a number of figures identical to her flickered into existence behind her. One had eyes completely blank, with a blue and yellow "W" on her chest. The others were her various forms when under the Protocol to Captain America, Optimus Prime, Wildfire, and Joshua.

"The only thing that lets me deal with it is the fact that I get to control who has access to it," Maria continued as the figures flickered out of existence. "Joshua has it active in the real world right now, in fact. He can't touch my soul, though." She sent her fellow Reploid a dry smirk, which he returned. "That isn't something that can be messed with in a program."

Myra's eyebrows rose. "You...you live with it?"

"Unfortunately, I have to." Maria turned to look back at Myra. "There really isn't anything I can do about it. If I try to get it removed, I will die."

Myra swallowed.

"We're here to do what we can in order to make sure that you can live without having to deal with too much of your present curse, for lack of a better word," Joshua put in. "If you can give us any hint at what happened, we should be able to do what we can in order to let you live normally. With the added affect that you will be a Reploid for the rest of your life."

"Reploid?" Myra frowned. "Rat--... _He_ didn't call me that."

"Because it's not a term that he would have known about," Maria replied. "It's short for 'Replicating Android;' basically, it means a robot in human form." Maria winked. "People like me, you, and Joshua. So don't worry. You're in good hands."

Myra didn't look like she knew what to say for a moment, but then a tired sigh escaped her as a smile crossed her face, and she nodded. "Thank you." A determined look came over her face a moment later. " _He_ tried to do a lot of different things to me after he turned me into...this, but the one thing he did was...." She paused and took in a breath. "Was make me susceptible to his brand of Cerebro Shells."

Maria looked over at Joshua, who frowned.

"Is it a mind-control device?" Joshua asked.

Myra nodded. "I don't know what's happened out there, and I won't until I've been brought back to my senses. I'm afraid I won't be of much help beyond that."

"Does the device...look like a helmet?" Joshua continued casually. "Because I pulled it off your head before we ended up here."

Myra's eyes widened.

"I have a data-scanner plugged into a port in the back of your neck right now. When the Decepticons return, I'm going to ask them for help in going over the data. Do you think you can be awake for that?"

Myra blinked. "I-I...maybe? I won't be able to help unless--"

"Someone's speaking in German?" Maria finished. She grinned. "I happen to be quite fluent in the language the Autos have been using on you. I can figure out what it is that the Hatchet did to you, but I'm going to need some help. Think you can give me a hand in that?" Maria placed a hand on Myra's shoulder. "It's going to be like the Protocol for me -- I'll give you a few loopholes, so you can answer them how you want to answer them -- or let me know what answer isn't entirely important. Sound good?"

Myra hesitated at the question for a moment before nodding. "Okay. So long as you're there."

Maria grinned and nodded. "Right. Joshua, let's get going. We're going to need to be in the real world if this is going to work."

Joshua nodded in response. "Right. We'll have you fixed, Myra. We promise."

Myra nodded, giving a weak smile in response.


	34. Myra

** Maria's POV **

As soon as Joshua and I went back to our respective cores, we were pulled out of that particular realm with Myra, causing me to come up gasping for air as I felt the Protocol's hold tighten on me again.

"Protocol: Alpha-Beta: Deactivate," Joshua muttered next to me, and the Protocol went slack and disappeared back into the darkest part of my mind. I relaxed, breathing in deeply.

"Thanks," I muttered to him.

"No problem." Joshua picked up a hammer -- since when was he carrying _that_ around? -- and he slammed it down on top of the helmet that I had seen Dark Flare -- Myra -- wearing some time ago. Purple sparks rose up from the metal as he pulled his hand back. "And that takes care of the Cerebro Shell."

I grinned, then gained a serious expression. "We'd better be careful handling that. I would hate to see what would happen if anyone came in contact with what makes this work."

"I know. I'm planning on taking it apart and seeing how it works -- with protection, obviously." Joshua used the hammer to push the crushed helmet off to one side.

"What is going on with you three?"

A chill ran down my spine, and I turned in order to see who had spoken.

"Oh. Uh...Hi, Wildfire." I gained a sheepish expression. "The fighting's done?"

"Not quite." Wildfire folded her arms across her chest, frowning. "You two were as still as statues. What were you doing?"

"Talking to Myra," I replied as casually as I could. "We just went, ah...a bit deep, that's all."

Wildfire raised an optic ridge. "Myra? What kind of name is that?"

"It's hers." I jabbed a thumb back at the purple Reploid behind me. "Her _real_ name."

Joshua started to go through his devices and tools, carefully lifting up what looked like a laptop with a MegaMan helmet sticker over where the logo probably was supposed to be. "And we are going to be working with her in order to fix what we can." He paused, one hand ghosting his left ear. "If the fighting is still going on, what are you doing here instead of fighting the Wreckers?"

"The Dinobots beat a retreat; Shape-Change said he said something about the Autobots not being of much use to him if their scientist's secret weapon wasn't with them anymore. Her group merged with mine and she suggested I come back here in order to keep an eye on you in case you did anything reckless." Wildfire's optics narrowed. "I'd say that what you were doing counts."

Myra shifted behind me, and she let out a startled gasp. "Wh-wh-"

I turned quickly and fixed my gaze on Myra's purple eyes. "Hey. Welcome back to the land of the living."

Myra looked at me with a panicked expression, but she calmed down some. "M-Maria?"

_ "Ja." _

Myra flinched when I spoke in German.

_ "Try to calm down, okay? If you can feel the thing in your neck, that's just Joshua looking over your data right now." _

Myra's brow furrowed, and she nodded, but didn't move other than that.

"Keep talking in German," Joshua said. He started typing on the laptop. "Parts of her code lights up in certain areas every time she does."

"And what does that mean?" Wildfire responded.

"I don't know yet. Maria will have to keep talking in order for me to figure it out."

I gave a nod in response. "Okay, Gotcha." I looked down at Myra. _"Are you feeling all right? Can you do a diagnostic?"_

Myra frowned. "A what?"

I paused. _"I'm wondering if you can check over your systems and make sure that everything's working properly."_

"Oh!" Myra's eyebrows shot up. "Uh...I think I can....let me see if I can try." She closed her eyes as her eyebrows scrunched together.

Joshua whistled. "That was a good idea. I'm getting a copy of that data over here, too -- it looks like there are some conflicts in some of the data." He gave me a nod. "Nice work."

"But what does it mean, though?" I responded.

"I have data running that's a copy of the basic programs that I have -- they won't be a complete match, but I can gain some idea of what was added by comparing the two."

I frowned. "That's not going to be perfect."

"I know." Joshua looked over at Wildfire. "Can you get Sir Soundwave in here? He might be able to help me decipher some of this code."

Wildfire shrugged, then turned and disappeared out of the medbay.

Myra opened her eyes. "Everything came back green...except for my head, which was a sickly yellow."

_ "Which probably means that something's wrong with your mind somewhere," _ I replied. _"We're going to fix that, but it's going to take a little while for us to be able to figure out what exactly is wrong."_

Myra nodded. "So...what?"

_ "You're just going to need to lie still for a bit. We'll let you know when we're done." _

Myra nodded again.

"So, 'Fire said something about you needing my expertise?" Sir Soundwave came in, rubbing his servos together. "A little coding shouldn't be too hard."

"Come over and have a look." Joshua motioned to his laptop. "Her coding lights up every time someone speaks in German -- luckily, Maria can, so we've been working with that. The problem is that I don't know what we can do in order to allow Myra to be able to have free will without worrying about it being taken away by a few words in a different language."

Sir Soundwave bent over; I'm sure he was squinting behind his visor as he looked at the laptop. "Whoo! That's some messed-up coding. And you want to get _rid_ of the whole other-language thing?"

"Or at least disable it. I know there are some parts that don't match up completely and don't work together," Joshua replied. "That might be the part that I need to get rid of, but I can't be entirely sure. Making machines that are programmed to do something is one thing, but a Reploid is something else entirely."

"Ah, gotcha." Sir Soundwave looked at the monitor for a moment. "Hmm...oh, wow, that baddie really whipped up a doozy. That guy may be a maniac, but he's _smart._ Except for this little bit." He pointed to a part of the screen with one of his smaller fingers. "It looked like he was rushed at this end bit... _oh."_

"What is it?" I looked over, frowning. Myra's eyes flicked up to look at me with a curious glint in her eyes.

"Looks like _someone_ was a little rushed and didn't do something right." Sir Soundwave's visor lit up. "We're lucky this time. Looks like he was rushed adding the mind-control code bit. It's supposed to mesh up with a Cerebro Shell -- looks like you've already taken care of _that_ problem."

I looked over at the crushed mess and smirked; Myra followed my gaze and her eyes widened.

"Okay. Let's hook her up to a bigger monitor and see if getting rid of that bundle of letters and numbers fixes her up." Sir Soundwave picked up Myra carefully with one servo, while Joshua stepped onto his other servo with the laptop and other equipment he had attached to Myra's neck.

I stepped onto my hoverboard and followed them over to a small computer terminal that was in the medbay, staying in Myra's line of sight at all times.

_ "Sir Soundwave has a good idea of what's up with your head," _ I explained. _"He's going to get around to fixing it, but he's going to need a bigger computer for his big fingers."_

Myra gave a shaky smile as Sir Soundwave and Joshua found an open port on the terminal and plugged her in. "What's going to happen?"

"You're going to feel some tickling in your head and you're probably going to have to reboot," Joshua called over as Sir Soundwave started typing.

"Reboot?"

_ "It means fall asleep and wake up again, basically," _ I explained. _"You're going to feel all right, but it might make you feel a little woozy or get a headache -- one of the two."_

"Oh." Myra tried to keep her eyes open, but I could tell that she was starting to have a hard time. "I...I think I'm feeling...woozy...."

Her eyes slid shut, and I couldn't help but feel relaxed. I landed on the computer terminal and watched as Sir Soundwave put Myra down next to me. I stepped off the hoverboard and sat down next to her as the Decepticon went ahead and started using both hands.

"Whoo, this is kid is a real bundle of wires," Sir Soundwave commented. "Sheesh, Ratchet is a real piece of work. It's like I'm walking in Crystal City -- I'm gonna have to be careful what I poke at, or else."

I looked up at that. "How careful?"

"Like I'm trying to sneak into Falsey's room to make off with one of his trophies without making him go all trigger-happy on me."

I flinched at the picture. Joshua looked a little uneasy.

"Yeah. This is going to take a while to sort through." Sir Soundwave let out a grumbling sigh. "Man, why did you throw _this_ at me, kid?"

"This needs to be taken care of, and I don't have enough knowledge about Reploid and Cybertronian coding together," Joshua replied.

" _Reploid?_ I thought that she was some Mini-Con!"

"Ratchet doesn't know the existence of the word," Joshua replied.

"It's from another world; of course he doesn't know about it," I replied.

Myra shifted, her eyebrows furrowing together. She gritted her teeth a bit. "Uhhhnn...."

"Careful," I warned, instantly feeling on edge. "We don't want to give her any mental damage."

"Right." Sir Soundwave grumbled something under his breath as he kept going through the data. "Sheesh, this is something unusual. He's really messed with her memories...I'll see if I can fix things up, but I don't think I'll be able to get to everything."

I couldn't help but notice that Sir Soundwave was being a lot more serious about this than he had been when I had first met. I figured it was probably because of Myra and how important she was.

I don't know how much longer they were sitting there for, watching Sir Soundwave work on Myra's head while listening to the communication bursts that came through into the base.

_ ::I see him! Optronix and Metroplex are on the move!:: _ Seer warned. _::Tronus, beware!::_

_ ::i appreciate the warning:: _ Tronus replied. _::Optronix is mine. Everyone else, see what you can do about Metroplex. I have to settle the score with the False Prime alone::_

_ ::Boss, I wouldn't recommend it:: _ Sideswipe warned. _::Optronix is probably on Dark Energon. You don't want to be infected by the stuff -- look at what happened to Wildfire!::_

_ ::I tend to agree::  _ Wildfire spoke up. She was probably over in the next room, but I could hear her more clearly over the communication system. _::Dark Energon is dangerous. Be careful if you cut him open::_

_ ::I appreciate your concern, but this is something that I have to take care of on my own. Optronix is my problem:: _

I couldn't help but feel something roil around in my gut at Tronus' words.

"You want to go out there and help." Joshua clearly wasn't asking.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about what's going on, but I don't think I'll be able to do anything against Optronix," I replied. "I mean, _Optimus_ is big. I don't know how much damage I might be able to do against a Cybertronian like that."

"You'd be surprised."

I turned in surprise as I saw Myra starting to rise to her feet, grinning.

"When I first got here, I made sure that those morons knew what they were dealing with, before...." Myra trailed off and looked away for a moment before she looked back at me. "I think _he_ still has scorch marks where we wouldn't care to admit."

I didn't want to picture what Myra was getting at, but I knew what she was talking about. "But you don't even know if I can do something like that."

"My memories of you out here are fuzzy, but I remember that you threw something that looked distinctly like fire at _him._ " Myra held up a hand, and it became covered in purple flames that I remembered could burn me. "If they're anything like my Mental Flares, then you should be able to do some damage."

" _Mental_ Flare?" I repeated. "No wonder I couldn't absorb your attack using my Flash Fire!" I held up my right hand, allowing my fire to appear. "Your attacks are mental constructs like Psystrike! That's awesome!"

"Psystrike?" Myra repeated, frowning.

"It's the name of another attack I know about -- don't worry about it." I let the fire on my hand dissipate as I waved off Myra's look.

"I find it interesting that your powers show up as fire, like Maria's does," Joshua commented, coming over. He disconnected the cable from Myra's neck -- causing her to flinch a bit -- and started coiling it up. "That might mean that the two of you are counterparts in some way."

"You think so?" Myra gave Joshua a curious look.

"Maybe." Joshua paused. "I don't know if we managed to take care of everything that Ratchet did to you, but if you're able to interact with us like this, then you're probably going to be all right for now. The next chance you get, find someone you can trust with robotics and see if they can find anything that might be damaging to you."

Myra frowned. "But...hmm. Well, there's _one_ person, but I don't know if they're going to be able to do much. Besides, I can't go home yet."

I blinked at that. "You can't? Why not?"

Myra shrugged. "A friend of mine blocked me out. She said I had to go on a long journey or something like that, and that I won't be able to go home until I'm done."

"Wait -- blocked you you? What do you mean?"

Myra shuffled from one foot to the other. "I...I'm not sure if you'll be able to believe me. It's...pretty out there."

"Well, we've seen some pretty 'out there' stuff. I mean, I'm calling you my counterpart for a reason." I shrugged, then paused. "Wait. Are you saying that you don't belong in this universe's Earth _or_ on Cybertron?"

"Earth?" Myra frowned, then shook her head. "No. My world's called Gaia, but most people just call it The Planet."

Joshua gave Myra a sharp look at that. I frowned.

"The _Planet?_ You guys mustn't have a very big space exploration thing going on right now." I shook my head.

Myra shrugged.

"While this chat is all fine and dandy, Boss is getting himself into a big mess out there, and he's going to get himself blown straight to the AllSpark because he doesn't have Dark Energon guzzling through him like the False Prime does," Sir Soundwave spoke up. "If you want to give him a hand, you'd better do it _now_ \-- and get your buddies together, too, because if we can keep Optronix back, now's a good time as any to get you all out of here before he gets any ideas about you. And then there's that stupid walking titan to knock into next week!"

Joshua and I exchanged looks while Myra stared at us.

"You mean _you're_ not from around here, either?" Myra asked in surprise.

"Nope." I shot Myra a grin. "It's my job to make sure things are all right for the good guys in each dimension, so when I heard how things were going in this dimension, I thought it'd be a good idea if my friends and I stepped in and helped out. If you've got a journey that you have to go through, maybe we can help. I've already got to get somebody else home, anyway--"

"No." Myra shook her head. "Thank you for the offer, but I have to do this on my own. If it's your job to make sure things are all right in other places, maybe we'll be able to run into each other again."

I blinked at that, a little surprised that Myra had just turned down my offer to help her out, but then I gave a nod in response. "Well, if you're so sure about it, then I won't try to persuade you otherwise. But...how are you going to get to other places, if you don't know where you're going next?"

"I get premonitions." Myra rubbed the back of her head. "It took me a while to get used to them back home, because of...Let's just say that nobody else really knew anything about my powers or how I could use them because I was the only one who had them. I'm starting to get used to them, but--"

"It's hard, when you don't have someone with abilities similar to yours." I nodded. "I get what you're saying. I'm the only one besides my Cybertronian friend Wildfire who has abilities like this. Only my siblings, Joshua, and his cousin really have abilities that could be considered superhuman back home, and Joshua and I aren't human anymore -- not that very many people know about that." I clapped a hand on Myra's shoulder. "Still, if what the Hatchet did to you starts causing trouble, try to get into contact with someone from a world called Neo-Earth. Depending on where you end up, you should try to talk to the head robotocist there who isn't trying to take over the world -- usually, that's Dr. Light."

"Or Dr. Cossack," Joshua spoke up. "And if you can't get into contact with either one of them because they're trying to take over the world, Dr. Wily should be able to give you a hand. We know him as a villain, however, so I would suggest you be cautious. If you end up in a time where they don't exist, find a Reploid known as MegaMan X, or Sigma if X is the villain. They should be able to find the help that you need."

Myra gave a nod. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

"Hello? Are we gonna get moving or not?" Sir Soundwave asked. Already, he was inching towards the door of the medbay. "Because I'm not going to leave Boss out there without backup."

I turned and looked at the mostly-white mech and gave a nod. "Right. And we need to get everybody together so that we can get back to our own world, too." I jumped up and landed on my hoverboard, causing Myra's jaw to drop in surprise. "Do you think you can carry these two, Sounders? I'm going to fly ahead and see about getting Wildfire and the others together."

_ ::Way ahead of you, kiddo:: _ Wildfire responded over the comm. _::We've got a good view of Tronus and Optronix right now::_

"And Metroplex?"

_ ::He's been taken care of:: _

I frowned. "The giant Auto-con's been taken care of? I thought that he was--

_ ::We may have had some...unusual help:: _

_ ::Tronus seems to be losing strength:: _ Seer added worriedly. _::Hurry, Maria::_

I gave a nod. "Right. Let's go, guys."

 


	35. Chapter 35

** Maria's POV **

It turned out that Optronix and Tronus were fighting pretty close to Iacon -- specifically, where the _Ark_ was. There were Auto-cons scattered all over the place complaining about wounds of all kinds -- there were a lot of them who were out cold.

"Looks like they're losing enough Energon that stasis lock is startin' to make the rounds," Sir Soundwave noted as he drove along the torn-up road below me. "They must be _really_ desperate to not want to go to their doc if they let it go _that_ far."

"No kidding." I couldn't help but wince when I saw that one of the Auto-cons had one of his legs torn off. "I don't like seeing them like this, though. It makes my gut churn in ways that I don't want it to."

"You're a Reploid, right? So why would you even have a gut moving like that?" Myra stuck her head out one of Sir Soundwave's open windows.

"It's an expression," I replied. "Kind of more of a hold-over from when I was human more than anything else."

"Oh." Myra blinked at that. "Huh. So, I guess we're still a little human?"

"That's what being a Reploid means." I shrugged. "We can still be human, even though we aren't."

Myra gave me a smile and nodded. "Yeah. We definitely are."

**_ BOOM! _ **

"We're comin' up on the fight!" Sir Soundwave warned as a shockwave suddenly flew out and whammed into us, causing me to bounce around in the air until I was able to get my balance properly. "And the False Prime is definitely _not_ holding back!"

I looked up at what was coming ahead of us and I nearly stopped short.

There was a purple-and-green Optimus Prime clone who was a little more boxy around the edges than the one I knew, standing over Tronus with a large, purple axe in place of one hand.

I stiffened, clenching my right hand mere moments before it turned into my Buster. "So, that's what he looks like here."

"Maria, don't get any ideas."

I looked down at Myra, who was looking back up at me with a dark glare on her face.

"That one is too strong for you to handle." She gritted her teeth. "He has _no_ _mind_."

"No mind?" My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "How can he still be moving if he has no mind?"

"Instinct." Joshua stuck his head out the other side of Sir Soundwave's van. "Sideswipe said he was using Dark Energon, remember? I don't know how long it's been since it's been used, but my guess is that he's used it so long that he's a shadow of what he used to be. Dark Energon is a drug, and with all drugs, there is a point of no return."

Optronix threw his head back and let out a bellowing roar that sent a chill running down my spine.

"It seems that _he_ is well past that point."

I swallowed at that. "Tronus doesn't look like he's doing so hot."

"Hey!"

I turned my head when I heard Wildfire's exclamation, and I caught sight of her and the others standing a short distance away, on the outskirts of Iacon. Ratchet was lying near them, and he definitely looked like he had seen better days, if the sheared-off arms meant anything.

I flew over ahead of Sir Soundwave. "How long have they been going at it? What happened with Metroplex? And why aren't we stepping in, considering that Joshua thinks that Optronix's mind is _gone?"_

"Tronus and Optronix won't let us get any closer," First Aid replied. She came over as Sir Soundwave came to a stop and let Joshua and Myra out before transforming. "They're treating it like a duel. We can't do anything until one or the other is either offlined or yields." She hesitated. "As for Metroplex...that's somewhat harder to explain."

I gritted my teeth. "At this rate, Tronus is _going_ to die if we don't do something, giant Auto or no!"

"Megatron has a plan." Starscream walked over to us. "He discussed it with me before we went ahead with Joshua's plan of action." His optics flicked down to Myra for a moment, who was watching the Cybertronians with a wide-eyed expression on her face. "Megatron will be able to take care of this. Just watch."

_ "OPTRONIX!!" _

I turned sharply when I heard Tronus' bellow, and I saw a chill run down Wildfire's spine out of the corner of my eye as I watched what it was that Tronus was doing.

My eyes widened when I saw Tronus whack Optronix over the head with a glowing _pink_ mace that was connected to his wrist. He moved back quickly and scrambled to his feet as Optronix's helmet sparked while the Auto-con held a servo over what looked like a dent.

"Do you think that you can end me so easily? Optronix?" Tronus' tone was snarling. "I am not going to simply lie down and die."

Optronix snarled wordlessly in response.

"You, however, _are_ dead. The poison that courses through your systems has turned you into something else entirely." Tronus pointed at Optronix with his mace-arm. "It is time that we settled this. Permanently." He held up something in his other servo.

I frowned. "That looks like...some kind of cube."

"Our secret weapon." Starscream looked rather pleased with himself. "Tronus and I worked on it together. We thought now would be as good a time as ever to test it."

" _Test_ it?" I looked between Starscream and the cube that Tronus was holding. "What is it?"

Tronus held up the cube, which was glowing with bright, iridescent colors.

"It's a special mix of Synthetic Energon."

My eyes widened as Tronus threw the glowing cube at Optronix, then moved back as the cube collided with the Auto-Con's chest.

"Get clear!" Tronus yelled, turning and waving at us. "We need to get clear! Now!"

I moved to action instantly, moving in front of the others as they moved behind the buildings of Iacon. Tronus moved behind me as the glowing cube now embedded in Optronix's chest started glowing even more -- so much that it was too bright to even see Optronix's body.

"Maria!" Myra looked up at me. "What are you--"

"I'm going to make a shield. Energy blocks energy, right?" I cracked my knuckles. "Fire Shield!"

A wall of flames blossomed from my fingertips, spreading out to cover me and fall to the ground and high over my head, spreading across the area in front of me and where a good deal of the others had been standing....including the nasty version of Ratchet.

"You're not going to be able to do that on your own! Flare Barrier!"

I blinked in surprise when purple flames started weaving their way through my red-orange ones, creating a constantly-shifting mosaic of colors that I found to be almost mesmerizing -- except for the bright, iridescent light that had completely overtaken Optronix.

The light suddenly condensed into the cube again, revealing Optronix _hovering_ above the ground like he was being held up by strings.

And then the light exploded, releasing shockwaves of light that went flying in all directions.

Including ours.

I pumped every last bit of energy I dared into the Fire Shield, and I could tell that Myra was doing the same as the shockwaves flew off in all directions. One of the waves slammed into our shield and instantly started pushing against it.

I gritted my teeth as I felt my energy start burning up. "I...don't...think so!" A roar ripped out of my throat, and was joined a second later by Myra's yelling.

"You two aren't going to be able to hold this for long!"

My eyes moved as I saw Wildfire appear on my right, fire licking at her servos.

"Let me lend you a hand." Wildfire held up her servos and forced yellow-orange flames to join the already shifting purple and red-orange flames that Myra and I were providing. Instantly, the push lessened on me, but not by much -- the shockwave was still pushing against the Fire Shield, and I didn't know how much longer I was going to be able to hold out.

And then, as quickly as the bright shockwave had appeared, it suddenly vanished in the blink of an eye. I nearly fell off my hoverboard because the force that had been pushing against me was gone.

Well, I fell off anyway because I'd burned up so much energy anyway. I started getting black spots in my eyes, and I nearly hit the ground, but someone caught me. It wasn't too long after that that I blacked out completely.

** Time Break **

I let out a groan as I came back to the land of the living. It felt like everything was aching all over the place, and I definitely wasn't planning on moving anytime soon.

Still, I wanted to make sure that I was in a safe place, so I cracked an eye open in order to see what was going on.

"Oh!" Myra moved out of view. "Joshua, she's awake!"

"About time. I would have thought that she would have been up hours ago," Joshua said with a dry tone.

I grunted. "Well, I didn't see _you_ using all your energy to make sure we weren't going to get incinerated."

"You didn't need to." Joshua moved into my line of vision. "Iacon would have taken most of the damage."

"We didn't know how far the shockwave was going to go! And I wasn't about to let us find out!" I scowled.

"That might be true," Joshua admitted. "However, I doubt that we are going to be able to know whether or not that is true unless the Decepticons tell us what has happened to the rest of the planet."

I nodded. "How long was I out?"

"It's been a few hours since Tronus blew up that crooked False Prime." Joshua pupped something out of my right arm -- a needle connected to what looked like a pink IV. "We've given you some Energon transfusions, and your core was going into overdrive and producing more energy than I've seen."

"Wait, what?" I started to move up into a sitting position and looked down at my chest. My eyes widened when I saw that my chest armor had been removed, revealing my inner parts and my brightly glowing Atlantean crystal. "I didn't think that it did _that_. I knew it was a part of what kept me going, but...I didn't think that it'd produce energy to restore what I'd lost."

"Well, obviously, there's more to your mysterious core than meets the eye." Joshua looked oddly amused at that. "We can't test it now, but I believe that it has to be drawing energy from its source -- even if that source is on another world."

"Huh." I raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think that I had a connection like that across worlds." I paused, frowning. "So, what happened out there after we stopped that shockwave? And what happened with Metroplex? We should have been having a lot of trouble with him, not just standing around and watching what was going on."

Joshua and Myra were quick to fill me in on what had happened. Apparently, after Optronix -- or, the shell that was left of him after his Ember had been consumed by Dark Energon -- had been vaporized, the Auto-cons had pretty much scattered into their own permanent factions or had wandered off into the planet's wilderness alone. Ratchet had disappeared, too -- definitely a danger somewhere on the planet still -- and Dark Smoke (who had been in the brig ever since we had brought him back) was looking like he was starting to consider his options and whether or not he should try to go out and join the other Auto-cons, or see what kind of punishment Tronus was going to come up with.

"So, what about all the wounded Auto-cons we saw lying around Iacon?" I asked after Joshua finished giving my armor a final once-over. "Did Ratchet take off with them or is Tronus keeping them prisoner somewhere? And what about Metroplex?"

"Knock Out and Aid did repairs. Now they're down in the brig with Dark Smoke." Myra shrugged. "We don't know what they're going to do to them yet, but I don't think that Tronus is planning on killing everybody."

"As for Metroplex...." Joshua held up what looked like a large jar of some kind. "Someone else got to him first, apparently."

I blinked, then raised an eyebrow at the tiny Cybertronian that was trapped inside. He looked like he should have been bigger, but...

"Who managed to _shrink_ a Cybertronian who was already a giant?!" I pointed at the jar while the Cybertronian inside slammed against his prison's walls in an attempt to break out. "That shouldn't be possible!"

"Under normal circumstances, no." Joshua put the jar down on the berth we were on top of. "Wildfire was the only one who actually saw who did it. Apparently, it was another human."

"What? But...how?" I frowned. "Do we have to find this guy and get him back to his home world, too?"

"He disappeared before we were even given the chance to find him." Myra folded her arms across her chest. "Apparently, Starscream found evidence that there'd been a rip in space-time."

"Another World Jumper?"

"I doubt it." Joshua frowned. "The readings were different from when you open portals to other worlds."

"Hmm..." My frown deepened. "So, what are the Decepticons going to do with Metroplex?" I nodded to the jar.

"Tronus is planning on reversing the shrinking process...eventually." Joshua paused. "We have no idea how it was done, and I doubt that Tronus is keen on loosing Metroplex for a while."

I snorted. "I hope not. If he did, then he might actually be as bad as _our_ dimension's Megatron."

Myra frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

"Where we come from, the situation is, in some ways, reversed," Joshua explained. "The Decepticons are actually our opponents where we come from, and the Autobots are our allies."

Myra stared at him. "R-really? There are worlds like that?"

"Yeah." I dug into my left temple with my thumb. "Which makes it really confusing sometimes!" I laughed. "It was bad enough reading about it, but to experience it first hand is something else entirely."

Myra gave a slight nod in response, looking off to one side as I rose to my feet. "Yeah. I can't imagine putting myself in a situation like that."

I shrugged. "Well, it could still happen, so don't be to sure about that. Speaking of which, do you know where it is that you're going yet, Myra?"

Myra blinked at my question, then frowned, cocking her head to one side. "Well...not quite yet. I get the feeling that I'm going to know soon, though."

"We could stay until you know for sure," I suggested. "You're going to want to know the ins and outs about being a Reploid, so I'm sure--"

"Joshua's been telling me a few things that I'm going to need to keep an eye on." Myra gave a smile. "Thanks for the thought, though. I think I'm going to be fine. I mean, we're counterparts, right? If you're able to handle being a Reploid, I'm sure I can, too."

I ducked my head at her statement, and I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. "Right. Yeah, you'll probably do all right." I looked over at Joshua. "So, where's everybody else?"

"Almost everyone's back at where we entered this world." Joshua nodded to the entrance of the medbay. "Wildfire decided to wait around for us so that she could grab you and get us going back to our world."

"Oh. Okay." I paused. "Wait -- is Kid Flash--"

"I'm coming with you."

I jumped when I heard the teenage hero's voice right next to my ear; I turned and looked at him in surprise.

"I mean, this place obviously is going to need some help getting back on it's feet, but...it's not home." KF folded his arms across his chest and raised his eyebrow at me. "So you're my ticket back."

I grinned in reply. "Yup. We're probably going to be a few days on my home world before we get you to yours, though -- transporting Cybertronians across space and time takes a lot out of me."

"I don't doubt it, since they're so much bigger. At least you don't have to worry about Megatron, Sir Soundwave, and Smokescreen this time." KF smirked. "I'll let Wildfire know you're up. She's in the next room over."

Before I could answer, KF turned into a red and yellow blur as he dashed out of the medbay.

"We should get moving." Joshua looked over at me. "We don't know how much time has gone by back at home, and I definitely don't want to be away for longer than I have to."

I nodded. "Yeah, that's always a big worry." I turned to look over at Myra...only to see a small flicker of green-and-purple sparkles as they fell onto the berth, the Reploid nowhere in sight.

I blinked. "What just...Myra was here just a moment ago! Where did she go?"

"Probably to that next world she said she had to go to," Joshua replied. "We should do the same."

We moved out into the communication hub, and found that Wildfire was standing there alone with Kid Flash, waiting for us.

"You just missed the gladiator team, Sideswipe, and Tronus." Wildfire jabbed a thumb at the open doorway. "Seer and the others are trying to get back to their neutral ways, but I think they've dug themselves in a bit too deep here. Especially considering the fact that the Auto-cons saw us working side-by-side with them."

I hummed worriedly. "Well, I hope that things turn out all right for them."

Wildfire nodded. "Yeah." She smirked a little. "So, are you three ready to go, then?"

It didn't take us too long to reach the place where my portal had spat us out when we had first gotten here; I barely remembered the initial trip to the base because of how much energy I'd used up at first. Considering that it wasn't very long after that Energon light bomb-thing that Tronus had set off, I guessed that I was probably going to be out of it for a couple of days again.

Wildfire rolled to a stop in front of a giant ring that looked like a suped-up Ground Bridge -- the Dimension Spanner. Bulkhead, First Aid, Bumblebee, and Shape-Change were standing near it, just like Wildfire had said they would be.

"You're prepared to get us home?" Shape-Change asked as Joshua, Kid Flash, and I stepped out of Wildfire's vehicle mode.

I gave a nod. "Yeah. Let's head back before the Auto-cons around here get any ideas, or we miss too much of the action back home."

"Sounds good to me," Bulkhead remarked. "I hope Miko's doing all right."

Bumblebee snorted. **"They probably have their hands full with her right now."**

Wildfire and I exchanged knowing looks while Bulkhead chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"Well, we'd better make sure she doesn't get into too much more trouble," Shape-Change commented.

"Yup." I cracked my knuckles and walked over to the Dimension Spanner. "Okay, guys. You remember what happened last time."

Under my breath, I muttered, "I hope this works."

Tapping into my World Jumping abilities again, I concentrated on creating another portal -- this one back to the home world that we all knew.

I felt the shattered glass affect again, but this time, the energy that rushed through me felt a lot more _right._ I could feel it shifting through me and into my fingers mere moments before I threw it out to create the portal that would take us home.

The sky-blue portal that appeared in the Dimension Spanner's ring made me grin.

"Let's go home, guys!" I exclaimed, running towards the portal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone asks, the mysterious figure who shrank Metroplex was a Stanford Pines in the midst of his 30-year exile from his home dimension. I was writing this chapter about the time that I got into Gravity Falls, so I felt a need to include him somewhere.


	36. Chapter 36

** Maria's POV **

Our return to the base a mere day after we had left surprised Fowler and amazed everybody else who was on-base -- most of the Cybertronians were out, so I knew that I was going to be able to surprise them later.

" _How_ could you have managed to take care of that without being gone for longer?" Fowler asked -- well, more like _demanded_ \-- when we were all back in the hanger. "And who'd this guy? He looks like he came out of some comic book!"

"Around here?" I smirked. "He kind of is. But he's not going to be sticking around for long, so don't think that you're going to be able to get any secrets about his life out of him."

Miko's shoulders sagged in disappointment. "Aw, come on! I wanted to know what it was like!"

"What what was like?" Kid Flash raised an eyebrow.

"Being a superhero! Getting to work with Batman and knowing all the secret identities and --"

"Whoa, hang on!" KF held up his hands. "Just because I've got a secret identity doesn't mean I know everyone else's! And I'm not about to say anything to civilians, anyway."

"Phoo!"

"I didn't think that you were into the DC comics, Miko," Raf commented, looking at Miko curiously. "You and Liz like that anime stuff, right?"

"Well, yeah, of course, but I like some of the stuff here, too! Batman's awesome!"

"Of course he is," Matthew said as he came over, rolling his eyes. He looked over at Kid Flash. "Kid Flash, right? I'm Matthew -- Maria's brother. I spent some time on your world a while back." He held out a hand, and KF shook it. "Nightwing gave me some close combat training for a while."

KF grinned. "Oh, yeah? And how was that?"

"Not fun. And that's an understatement."

KF laughed as I grinned. "Oh, yeah. I know how you feel about _that._ "

"Yeah, I figured you would," Matthew replied dryly. "How long are you going to be sticking around?"

"Well, I expect that I'm going to drop dead at any moment from energy depletion because of the portal, so...probably a day?" I shrugged, then yawned. "If you guys want the full story of what happened, talk to Joshua or Wildfire. I'm gonna go sleep."

With that, I walked over to the entertainment center and collapsed onto the couch before conking out.

** Change in POV **

As soon as Maria was deaf to the world, Miko zeroed in on Joshua.

"Well? What'd you do? Did you find Maria's counterpart? Did you have one?"

"We tipped the scales for the sake of our allies, we did find and rescue Maria's counterpart, and there was no proof that I had a counterpart in that dimension's Cybertron," Joshua replied calmly. "Maria, Kid Flash, Maria's counterpart, a man we never got to meet who shrank a Cybertronian, and I were the only ones who were even remotely human on Cybertron."

" _Shrank_ a Cybertronian _?_ " Liz did a double-take. "How's that possible?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Joshua shrugged.

"Cybertron's atmosphere is poisonous to humans, though," Jack pointed out. "How could Kid Flash have survived that?"

"That Cybertron had oxygen," Kid Flash replied.

"Which is odd, considering that we don't need it to survive," Wildfire continued. She paused. "However, they _did_ have Embers instead of Sparks over there. Those Cybertronians probably needed the oxygen."

"That makes sense," Jolt spoke up. "Fire needs oxygen to burn. If their Sparks are basically tongues of flame, then they're going to need it."

"Exactly," Joshua agreed. "Which is why Kid Flash was able to survive on Cybertron when it wouldn't have been possible in other areas."

"What's Cybertron's atmosphere like here?" Kid Flash frowned. "No oxygen, obviously, but what else?"

"You're interested in that kind of thing?" Jolt looked down at the teenage superhero in surprise.

"I'm a scientist; of course I'm gonna be interested!" KF grinned. "I may as well do _something_ while I'm waiting for my ticket home to charge up." He motioned up to where Maria had gone.

Jolt's optics lit up. "Come over here; Joshua and I can go over the chemical compounds with you."

"Awesome!" KF grinned, then zipped over to the computer terminal that Jolt had motioned to, startling Ratchet in the process.

"By the Allspark!" the medic yelped. "What kind of human _are_ you?!"

KF turned sharply at Ratchet's exclamation, eyes widening a little when he saw the red and white medic. "U-uh--"

"He's not a mad scientist here," Joshua spoke up from the floor. He jumped up, using the jets in his boots to boost himself up to the computer terminal. "This world and yours are different from the one you were at before, remember?"

KF relaxed. "Right, right. Sorry, it's just -- instinct."

Ratchet snorted. "I'm not surprised." He eyed the teenager with a raised optic ridge. "How is it that a human is capable of running at speeds faster than most average vehicles? This shouldn't normally be possible."

KF grinned. "Not around here, obviously. Where I come from, it's another story."

While KF proceeded to launch into an explanation of his powers to Joshua, Jolt, and Ratchet, Miko and the other humans gathered a short distance away.

"I can't believe that there's a _superhero_ in here! Right now!" Miko let out a quiet squeal of excitement.

"It's pretty unbelievable that Maria managed to find him," Matthew agreed, grinning. "I mean, she thought he was alive, but I didn't think he'd end up on _that_ Cybertron, of all places."

"Wait -- you mean Maria knew that Kid Flash was out there somewhere?" Liz looked at her brother in surprise. "Since when?"

"Probably since the end of the _Young Justice_ series." Matthew rubbed the back of his head. "You guys remember the last episode, right?"

Morgen snorted. "I remember. Maria was complaining about that ending for _days._ "

"She definitely didn't like the ending all that much," Katie agreed. "I liked the bittersweet ending, to be honest, but I guess that didn't work for everyone."

"You watch cartoons?" Miko asked in surprise.

"I like the animation," Katie replied honestly. "Is that a problem?"

Miko shook her head. "No, it's just -- I didn't think adults would be interested in that kind of thing."

"Well, I like to draw, so I like to see what other people's styles are."

Miko's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh."

"What does this have to do with the kid who can run around like he's on a sugar high?" Fowler jabbed a thumb back at the computer terminal.

Katie turned to look at Fowler. "In the last episode of the series, Kid Flash pushed himself to the point that he was vaporized by an energy blast. Everyone on his team thought that he was dead, and one of the other speedsters took on his name as a way of keeping the Kid Flash legacy going. Maria thought that he had been sucked into a realm referred to as the Speed Force, but I'm not entirely sure what that is."

"It's an alternate dimension that the Flashes in the DC comics have access to," Matthew explained quickly. "I remember reading about this when Maria came home with those comic books before she first World Jumped -- they have to be going at a certain speed in order to be able to access it, and sometimes, when they break out or pass by it, they can end up in entirely different dimensions. She thought that was what had happened to Kid Flash over there."

Fowler whistled. "Pretty good deduction skills for a teenager. And this was before she was a Reploid?"

"Yup. Maria's been pretty sharp when it comes to her fiction." Morgen looked amused. "Maybe she knew somewhere that she was going to need to know that stuff sometime."

"That is so cool," Miko breathed with an amazed expression.

"No kidding," Raf agreed.

"So, you guys are all into different kinds of fiction stuff like that?" Jack's eyebrows rose. "Since you guys were sucked into TVs, Mr. and Mrs. Carlsdale, I would have thought you would have avoided them."

"Avoid them?" Morgen laughed. "Sure, I was nervous every time that I sat down in front of the TV, but I _loved_ traveling to those different worlds so much!"

"All those people, places, flora and fauna...." Katie closed her eyes and breathed in, a peaceful look on her face. "They were incredible. I don't think that I'm ever going to forget what I was able to see." She opened her eyes again. "That all stopped, though, after we met Wildfire and the others for the first time. I can't help but wonder if us marrying and having our children was the cause of it."

"So, you're saying that this whole World Jumper thing stops as soon as you're able to settle down and start a family," Fowler noted, frowning. "What would happen if someone like Maria isn't able to settle down like you two can?"

Morgen and Katie exchanged looks, then shrugged.

"We haven't heard of anyone being in that sort of situation," Katie admitted.

"Joshua mentioned this already -- World Jumpers from other worlds don't run into each other." Morgen paused. "Well, there might be a few times where that _might_ be wrong, but I don't think very many people can say that they've met a fellow World Jumper from another universe in their lifetime."

"Wait -- are you saying you've met another World Jumper?" Collin asked, looking up at Morgen and Katie in surprise. "Are we gonna see them in the videos you bright from home? The ones we haven't seen?"

Morgen and Katie looked at each other at the question, while the others looked interested.

"What kinds of people have you met?" Nurse Darby asked, speaking up for the first time since Maria had returned. "Are they from all walks of life?"

"You could say that," Morgen replied. "Everyone we've met...they're a well-mixed group. Teenagers, scientists, freedom fighters, runaway experiments...the list goes on from there."

" _Experiments_?" Fowler repeated, startled.

"The Hulk's an experiment -- in a way," Jack spoke up. "Do you guys mean people who have managed to get away from mad scientists or something?"

Katie and Morgen nodded. Fowler looked uneasy.

"Still, those kinds of people can be dangerous," Fowler said. "How young _were_ you to end up with people like that?"

Morgen and Katie chuckled.

"Young," Morgen replied.

"And, maybe, a little reckless," Katie added, playfully nudging her husband.

This got a loud laugh from Morgen. "You got that right!"

** Time Break/Change in POV (Maria) **

By the time I woke up, it was late in the afternoon and I could hear people talking and laughing -- even the occasional, rumbling chuckle from one of the Autobots.

I sat up, yawning and keeping one eye closed as I checked my energy levels. "Oh, good, I've got some strength back." I pushed myself off the couch and stood up, stretching as I raised my voice. "So, what are you all laughing about?"

"Wally was telling us about a prank Dick pulled!" Miko replied cheerily, grinning from ear to ear.

"I still can't believe that he would do things like that," Matthew said as I came down. "I mean, leaving a prank _virus_ in _Luthor's_ computers? I wouldn't have the guts to do something like that."

"Well, you're not Dick," Kid Flash replied cheerily. "You definitely don't look like a computer whiz like he is, unlike Joshua." He nodded to the blue-armored Reploid.

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Well, Matthew definitely isn't someone who can work through computer code."

Matthew grunted. "I can use the stuff, but I just can't stand staring at a screen like that for very long."

I snorted. "Yeah." I looked over at KF. "You ready to head back?"

"What, now?" KF blinked in surprise.

"Well, we want to get you back to your home world, and I'm sure that there are a lot of people who are going to want to know that you're okay." I winked. "I'm sure that one particular archer-girl is going to want to let you know just how she feels about you sacrificing yourself like that."

KF winced at my statement, and I gained something of a wolfish grin.

"Yeah, I should probably should get back there," KF admitted. "You good to go?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Matthew, do you want to come with and say hi to Nightwing?"

Matthew snorted. "No way. You can tell him I say hi, though."

I smirked. "Sure." I rubbed my hands together. "Okay, you guys. You might want to step back."

As soon as I got a proper amount of room, I focused and opened a portal straight to the world I had been at before I had known about Wildfire's existence.

I looked over at KF, then motioned for him to follow me. He gave me a smirk in response before he and I walked through the portal...

...and stepped into the exact same hanger that we had been in a moment ago. Only, the cast of characters who were in the hanger were a _little_ bit different.

"Hiya!" I called, waving a hand as KF and I stepped out of the portal. "I won't be sticking around for long -- I just came to drop off someone I know you've been looking for."

My grin widened when I saw the shocked looks on the faces of the humans present. Batman may try to deny it, but like it or not, I _did_ see the Dark Knight's eyes widen.

"Wally!" A red-and-yellow blur slammed into KF, causing him to look down in surprise. "I knew you would be coming back, but I didn't think that it'd be so soon! This is _so_ crash!"

"Bart?" KF asked in surprise. "What are you doing wearing my costume?"

Bart backed out of the hug he had caught KF in, the wide grin that was on his face fading. "Well, someone had to take up the mantle when you...well, y'know."

"Oh. Yeah...." KF looked over at me. "You know, you could have warned me about that."

"We did, remember? When Joshua, Wildfire, and I were filling you in on what happened around here?" I shot a certain Dark Knight a look. "But, considering you're _here,_ I'm guessing the original base got blasted to pieces by something."

"It was." Nightwing caught my attention, stepping forward. I saw a certain Japanese exchange student dancing around giddily behind him while Jack and Raf stared at me with wide-eyed expressions of shock. "Megatron managed to get his hands on something that Optimus called the Omega Lock and erected a base not far from here. We only just arrived here to start prepping their new base."

"Really? Then you're not all that far behind us. Huh." I scratched my head in thought.

"Can you warn us about what's coming?" Bart looked at me with a curious, almost eager expression.

"That would be spoiling things, wouldn't it?" I replied with a wink.

"Flare-Up."

I looked up when I heard Batman's growling tone. Wally shot me a look, then zipped over to where his old girlfriend happened to be standing off to one side -- Tigress, if I'm remembering right.

Knowing that Batman wasn't going to let me get away without saying _something,_ I let out a sigh and thought for a moment. "You might be going on a bone hunt soon. The Decepticons picked up a scientist named Shockwave -- he's got one optic for his entire face, but my team doesn't call him Cyclops -- we call him Frankenstein, because of what he could do with those bones. Did you see the metal dragon that was causing the Autobots trouble?"

"Yes," Aqualad spoke up. "Quite the formidable creature."

"But Ratchet took care of him!" Miko called. "He sent Puff straight to the Arctic!"

"I wouldn't be so sure that he's going to stay there." I paused when the proud look on Miko's face faltered a bit. "The creature is called a Predacon -- basically, they're predator Cybertronians that turn into beasts. Shockwave sent a contingent of them here in the prehistoric era, and their bones are still lying around somewhere. Keep them from Shockwave's claws, or else you're going to be facing an army of who knows what kind of monsters. We're in the middle of the hunt right now back at home, so I can't tell you yet how it's going to play out."

Batman gave a small nod in response. Then a thought occurred to me.

"You know, my world has this place on military ground," I commented. "How different is it here?"

"Wayne Industries has been publicly backing the Justice League and the Autobots for some time now," Nightwing replied. "Ever since Brainiac was disabled, in fact. You missed the uproar Mr. Wayne caused when he announced that."

I could tell from the dry smirk on Nightwing's face that I really missed something big.

I snickered. "I wish I had been there, but my world has issues of its own to solve. I'll see if I can stop by later, if you need anymore help, but I need to get back to my own place."

Batman gave another small nod, and Wally gave me a thumbs-up.

"You go show those morons who's boss!" Wally grinned.

I grinned back and gave a nod. "You know it!"

With that, I turned and walked back through the portal. As I left, I could distinctly hear a loud slap and a yelp from Wally, and I knew that Tigress was definitely making her feelings known to the speedster.

I chuckled, glad that the two of them could get back together, and feeling as though all was right with my world.


	37. Evolution

** Maria's POV **

The next day, there was a tension in the air that I and the others didn't like the feel of.

The source? Ultra Magnus.

"Doctor, what is the current status of your Synthetic Energon experiments?" Magnus peered over Ratchet's shoulder as the medic worked at the computer.

"I am doing the best I can, Commander, given the lack of functional equipment at my disposal," Ratchet replied tersely. "Jolt and Joshua have provided ample equipment and material, but even then, it is still primitive compared to what I could be using."

"This isn't Cybertron," First Aid added. "We're going to have to work with what we have."

"Even with Rhinox working in our lab back home, there are still some limits to what we can do," Joshua added from where he was sitting on a platform nearby. I could see him working on a laptop from where I was sitting on the entertainment center.

"You do realize that an alternate energy source may be essential to our survival," Ultra Magnus continued.

I facepalmed at Magnus' comment while Dad snorted from where he was standing behind the couch, watching Raf, Jack, and Miko play the Smash Worlds game we'd brought over.

"Believe me, Ultra Magnus, no one is more acutely aware of the stakes than I am." Ratchet turned to look at the Wrecker Commander, frowning.

"...of course." Ultra Magnus turned and walked across the hanger to where Bulkhead, Smokescreen, Arcee, Wildfire, Sparkseer, and Bumblebee were standing near another computer. "Beast Hunters, may I ask why you are _not_ currently scouting Grid 305 for Predacon bones?"

"Because we just returned from surveying Grids 301 to 304?" Wildfire asked dryly.

Bulkhead cleared his throat. "To log our field reports per your protocol, Commander Magnus. Sir."

Wildfire shot me a look and rolled her optics; I rubbed the bridge of my nose as I felt annoyance bubble up in my chest at how Ultra Magnus was hovering over everybody.

Ultra Magnus turned, noticing Wheeljack and Jolt coming into the hangar. "Soldiers, I don't recall giving you permission to leave the base."

"Because you _didn't_ , sir," Wheeljack replied.

I raised an eyebrow when I saw the green liquid covering Jolt's and Wheeljack's armor. I was about to ask what was on them, but then Ultra Magnus beat me to it.

"Why are your hands smeared with coolant?" Ultra Magnus asked.

"We recalibrated your ship's engines," Jolt replied as Wheeljack tried to wipe the liquid off his servos.

"You can expect a ten percent increase in vector thrust," Wheeljack added, smirking smugly.

I grinned at Wheeljack's response, hoping that left Ultra Magnus a bit speechless. Then I heard the sound of jets, and my head turned just in time to catch sight of Optimus landing at the hanger's entrance.

** "Hey, Optimus!" ** Bumblebee ran over to meet the Autobot leader, followed by most of the rest of the group at a fast pace. Instead of running over to him, Wildfire walked over to stand near the entertainment center part of the base as I got up from the couch and walked over to the railing.

"Welcome back Optimus!" Smokescreen greeted. "It's good to see you!"

"It's good to have you back, Optimus," Arcee added over Bulkhead's laughter.

"Decepticon activity is at a lull," Optimus said as he stepped inside the base. "I fear that Megatron may have collected the specimens he requires to...clone his army."

I frowned, then noticed that Optimus' gaze was on Ultra Magnus, who was standing back a short distance from everyone else.

"Hmmm...."

Wildfire and Dad noticed.

"What's up, kiddo?" Dad came over and leaned on the railing next to me.

"It's just....I know Magnus is a stuck-up, but he looks a bit lonely." I frowned.

"Well, something tells me that he's having a bit of a hard time adjusting to how things are run around here." Dad looked over at Ultra Magnus, following my gaze. "Think about it. He's used to having everyone listen to him without question and looking up to him as a leader. When he got here, though, the 'bots had been here for a while. They'd changed to work in their new environment...and he hasn't gotten the chance to yet." Dad looked back at me. "Which means he's going to be grating against everybody for a while until he adjusts."

I nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. It's probably going to be a while before he is adjusted, though. Magnus seems pretty set in what he already knows."

Wildfire snorted. "You've got that right. He's an Elite Guard through and through -- he probably picked up a few tips from his commanding officer at some point in the war, because I know for sure that he was a lot more open about things on the battlefields back home. Him and that hammer of his."

"Hammer?" I blinked in surprise. "Magnus used a hammer on Cybertron? But I only saw him use his guns until he picked up the Forge!"

"Maybe he lost it," Dad suggested.

"How do you _lose_ a _hammer?_ That thing probably sticks out like a sore thumb in any kind of wreckage!"

"You'd be surprised," Wildfire replied dryly. She looked over at the other Autobots, then glanced back at me. "I'm gonna go clean off my weapons. Might be a good idea if you did some maintenance on that Buster of yours."

As Wildfire stepped away from the platform, Miko let out a loud snort.

"Magnus is a real piece of work," the exchange student declared sourly.

"He's just having a hard time adjusting, like Mr. Carlsdale said," Raf pointed out. "Maybe you shouldn't be so harsh on him."

"He does grate against your nerves pretty hard, though," I commented as Dad and I came over and joined them at the couch again. "I don't know _what_ would happen if _he_ ever activated the Protocol, and to be honest, at this point, I don't know if I want to find out. I've bent rules plenty of times in other places, and if someone thinks I'm going to follow orders to the letter like some drone...." I shuddered as Wily's demented figure popped up in my head.

"Hey, Maria, don't worry so much about it, okay?" Mom came over, looking concerned. "Ultra Magnus might turn out to be an ally who will respect you, Protocol or not. We're just going to have to wait and see."

I looked up at her at that. "Yeah...don't judge a book by its cover." I blinked, then frowned. "Hey, speaking of books, what's that?" I pointed to the black book that Mom was holding.

She looked down at it, then looked back at me with a smile. "Well, I've been talking to Optimus and Ratchet when they've both been on base, and they gave me some reading material. The translation from Cybertronian isn't perfect, but...it does give me some insight into their history."

"What is it?" Jack looked over as Miko had Wolverine punch Knuckles off the edge of the platform, causing Raf to throw up his hands in despair.

"Well, it's both the planet's history and their religious text." Mom held the book out in front of her with that look in her eye -- the one she always got when she as looking over some piece of artwork that she really admired. "Optimus said it's called The Covenant of Primus."

"Primus?" Raf looked over, adjusting his glasses. "Isn't that the name of their creator? The one who went against Unicron?"

Mom nodded. "Yes, that's the one."

"Do you think we could have a look at it?" Jack asked, interested.

"Well, I don't see why not. I've already read through it multiple times." Mom shrugged.

"Mom, when did you _get_ it?" I asked, frowning.

"After you left with Joshua and the others." Mom gave me a smirk and a wink, then turned and handed the book off to Jack, who instantly opened it up. Miko and Raf leaned over his shoulders and started reading.

My eyebrows rose. "Huh. I didn't think that you were that fast of a reader."

Mom shrugged. "Well, it was very fascinating stuff."

Before any one of us could say anything else, a loud blaring noise suddenly came from the monitor that Ratchet, Jolt, and Joshua had been working at.

"Optimus!" Ratchet called. "Our scanners have detected exposed Energon!"

I whirled around and looked at the Autobots in surprise at that. "Exposed Energon? You mean the Decepticons left it out in the open?"

"With our reserves at a critical low, we cannot afford not to investigate," Optimus said, his battlemask slamming shut.

"Who's going?" I asked as we moved to the railing. Jack, Khrista, and my siblings were the last to get there, as Jack had the Covenant in his hands and the others had been playing a card game on a table Fowler had set up nearby.

"Bumblebee, Smokescreen, and Arcee will form the stealth team; Wildfire, Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and myself will serve as the main force." Optimus nodded to each of them in turn. "Everyone else will remain on base."

"Works for me," Wildfire said, grinning.

Optimus looked over in my direction, and he must have seen the look on my face because he sent me a stern look. "Do not attempt to follow us through, Khrista, Maria."

My shoulders sagged. "But I feel useless here! I want to be able to see some action! I fought on that alternate Cybertron. Why--"

"Because Shockwave might get a few ideas?" Joshua suggested dryly.

Jolt flinched at the statement, while I frowned.

"What do you mean by that?" If I'd still been a Vulpix, my tails would have been fanning out aggressively. "Did you have another one of those visions that you never tell anyone about?"

"What?" Khrista shot me a look of surprise. "Joshua has--"

"That is besides the point," Joshua replied evenly. "My point is that the Decepticons are going to know about you as soon as you show up -- they probably do already, considering what happened at Darkmount -- and they are going to be curious about you and look for every opportunity to get their hands on you. You probably shouldn't be leaving the base unless you absolutely have to, like what we did on that alternate Cybertron."

"He does have a point," Raf spoke up.

My shoulders sagged. "Okay, okay, fine."

Optimus gave a nod, then turned to Ratchet and signaled him to open the Ground Bridge. A moment later, he and his chosen Autobots disappeared into the swirling vortex.

As the green portal closed, I let out a sigh and lowered my head for a moment before going back and sitting down on the couch.

"I still can't shake the feeling that I'm supposed to be helping, not sitting around on my rear end waiting for something to happen," I muttered, rubbing at my forehead with one hand. "I'm a World Jumper; I'm supposed to keep things in balance. What good am I if I'm just...sitting around?"

"Maybe your time to do what you're meant to do hasn't happened yet," Jack suggested as he sat down on the couch, the Covenant in his hands. Miko and Raf joined him a moment later, Miko slipping the book from his hands and opening it. "I mean, you haven't had any of your vision-things since you got back here, right?"

"Yeah, but I still can't shake the feeling that I'm supposed to be doing something." I leaned back against the couch, feeling the springs creak under me as I put my hands behind my head and looked up at the ceiling.

"Like, pre-battle jitters?" Khrista suggested as her head appeared in my line of vision.

"Something like that, yeah," I replied. "Except it's not so much going after Cyrus as it is wondering whether or not the universe is going to be able to come out all right with this war going on. Something could happen on one of the sides that could tip the balance in a bad way...and I can't help but wonder if that's going to happen soon."

I don't know if my words triggered what happened next, but I got a massive headache that made me squeeze my eyes shut and grit my teeth as color exploded across the back of my eyelids.

** Vision Break **

_ "Well, this is one whole lotta ugly," Wheeljack said, looking up at the large tube in front of him. Inside, floating in a yellow liquid, was a large, mechanical beast, curled up in what looked like a fetal position. _

_ "You got that right," Wildfire agreed, looking tense. "I don't like the looks of this." _

_ "It seems that Shockwave's cloning operation is further along than we anticipated," Ultra Magnus noted, walking ahead of the two of them with his blaster out and ready to fire at a moment's notice. _

_ And then he saw Shockwave. _

_ "I'm glad Optimus decided against sending Jolt out for this!" Wildfire called as Shockwave started exchanging fire with them. _

_ "Less talking, more shooting!" Wheeljack barked back. _

_ The three Autobots were quick to move to dodge Shockwave's fire, which unfortunately let him escape through a Ground Bridge after he set something off that caused the tubes to start releasing their liquid contents. _

_ And then the mechanical monsters -- the Predacons -- started waking up. _

** Vision Break **

My eyes opened as I let out a gasp, sitting upright rather abruptly. "I knew that something was going to happen!"

The others looked at me in confusion, and I noticed that Bumblebee and Arcee had come back -- with a few loads of Energon crystals.

"What are you talking about?" Arcee asked, frowning.

"Something's going on back there right now." I scrambled to my feet and ran to the railing. "There's a cave that the Wreckers and Wildfire are looking into right now, right?"

Sparkseer inclined his head at my statement. "You are aware of what was located near the Energon?"

"I just had another vision, and I don't like the look of it." I gripped the railing tightly, ignoring the fact that I was going to leave grooves in it from where I gripped it. "They found Shockwave's lab in there -- him _and_ the cloned Predacons that we've been worrying about. I can't help bur wonder if they walked right into a trap!"

"A trap?" Raf repeated in surprise, his eyebrows rising.

"You mean that the exposed Energon was nothing more than _bait?"_ Ratchet spluttered.

"We have to get back there," Arcee said, turning to look at Ratchet. "If the Predacons are activating and they're still back there, then they're going to need backup."

"Indeed they will," Ratchet replied quickly. "Maria, was Shockwave there in your vision?"

"He was--"

Jolt shuddered.

"--but he left when Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack, and Wildfire started shooting at him. I don't think he's going to be heading back there anytime soon."

Bulkhead and Smokescreen ran through the still-open Ground Bridge.

"Doc, close the Bridge!" Smokescreen ordered. "The mine just exploded!"

"Optimus went in to see what was going on; he said he might need an aerial Ground Bridge," Bulkhead added.

" _Exploded?"_ I repeated in surprise as Ratchet shut down the Ground Bridge. "Shockwave's lab _exploded?_ What could have caused that to happen?"

"Shockwave?" Smokescreen asked in surprise. "What are you--"

"I had another vision," I explained quickly. "That mine wasn't a mine -- it was Shockwave's lab full of Predacons. And you're saying it _exploded?"_

"Had Wheeljack's digits all over it," Bulkhead confirmed, nodding.

"Did you hear anything that sounded like noises a Predacon would make?" Joshua asked. "Anything animalistic?"

Smokescreen shook his head. "No, nothing like that. The cave path split in two; Bulkhead and I went down one way and didn't find anything. Wheeljack, Wildfire, and Magnus went in another direction -- they probably found the lab you're talking about and blew it up."

I groaned and put my head in my hands, digging my fingers into my hair. "I hope they're all right."

"They're probably going to be fine," Bulkhead replied. "'Jackie, Wildfire, and Magnus are pretty tough."

_ ::Ratchet! A Ground Bridge!:: _

"On it, Optimus!" Ratchet quickly opened the Ground Bridge. "Everyone, clear out of the way! Optimus is going to be flying in!"

The Autobots scattered a good distance away from the Ground Bridge mere moments before Optimus flew through and quickly landed.

I gasped when I saw the three figures he was carrying -- specifically, the red and orange femme he had thrown over one shoulder.

"Ratchet, we have wounded," Optimus said gravely. "Tend to them -- quickly."

"Jolt! First Aid!" Ratchet quickly motioned for Optimus to come over to his medbay corner of the base. "I am going to need your assistance!"

"Roger!" Jolt moved over quickly.

"Joshua, get over here!" First Aid motioned for the blue Reploid's attention. "We might need you to take care of some of the small stuff."

"Right." Joshua set aside his laptop and quickly moved over to the medbay, using his jet boosters to move in long leaps and jumps as Wildfire, Wheeljack, and Ultra Magnus were laid down on the berths.

"What happened?" I jumped over the side of the platform and landed on my hoverboard moments after it disconnected from my back. I flew over to Optimus, saying, "I had a vision of Shockwave's lab when Magnus and the others found it, then Smokescreen said there was an explosion. Were they caught in the blast?"

"No." Optimus shook his helm. "It was...something else."

I blinked at that. "S-something else? What kind of something else?"

"It seems that they sent in the Predacon to investigate the lab after Shockwave retreated from it. And, it seems that the Predacon has changed since we last came into contact with him."

"What do you mean?" Sparkseer asked cautiously.

Jolt looked up from his work on Wheeljack. "He transformed, didn't he."

We all looked at the blue-armored mech with various expressions of surprise and curiosity.

"He what?" I blinked.

"The Predacon did indeed transform," Optimus replied, nodding. "I saw his bipedal form in the cave, and was nearly overtaken by his beast form when I was returning here." He paused. "How is it that you are aware that the Predacon was capable of such a thing?"

"Well...." Jolt paused. "We have a Maximal -- a member of a group that lived with the Predacons -- in our lab right now, helping us out with our experiments. He stays in a form that looks a lot like those rhinoceros that live in Africa, because the Energon radiation coming from our mine's a bit too strong for him, even though it's not at lethal levels for Cybertronians, Reploids, or humans." He shrugged. "I guess I thought that, if the Maximal can transform, why can't the Predacon?"

I frowned at that, trying to wrap my head around the idea. "I can see how that would make sense...."

"This Maximal you speak of," Optimus spoke up. "How did you come across him?"

"He was in stasis lock in our mine," Joshua explained. "We woke him up, and he's been assisting us ever since. He told us his name is Rhinox."

Optimus inclined his helm. "Would Rhinox, perhaps, be willing to share knowledge with us about Predacons?"

"I think he'd be more than willing," Jolt replied. "It's just that we haven't had an opportunity to get him onto the base yet."

"We can worry about that after we finish fixing up these three," Ratchet snapped. "Now stop talking and help me! I need to get to Ultra Magnus and give him a prosthetic!"

I jolted at that, and looked over at Ultra Magnus...only to stiffen when I saw that he _was_ missing a hand -- his right one.

"What made _that_ happen?" I asked in shock. "A-and is he going to be okay?"

"We are not as fragile as humans are," Ratchet replied. "We can interchange certain parts as they start to wear -- servos being one that can be replaced. However, I have limited options here, and they have multiple wounds. We will have to work _quickly!"_

"Right!" Jolt started looking over Wheeljack more quickly and carefully, occasionally telling Joshua to get him something to reach somewhere that he couldn't.

I moved back to the platform the others were on, feeling more than a little worried. Something _had_ happened in that cave, and I hadn't been there in order to help.

And there was a sinking feeling in my stomach that told me things were going to be getting a lot worse from there.

** Time Break **

It was evening by the time that Ratchet was able to get to Ultra Magnus' hand and seal it off so that Energon wouldn't be leaking through. By then, Wheeljack and Wildfire were already back in the waking world with a number of scrapes and cuts that were going to take a little while to heal.

I leaned over the railing of the platform, watching as Ratchet went to work with Optimus standing nearby.

Dad leaned over the railing, resting his elbows on the metal. "You're worried about him."

I looked over at him, then back at Magnus. "Yeah. I know that we would have a hard time with losing a limb, but...."

"He's going to be all right." I barely felt Dad's hand as he rubbed my back; my armor made it a little difficult to feel the comforting touch I was so used to. "Ratchet's a good doctor, and he's going to do everything he can to fix Magnus. You know that."

"Yeah...."

"I bet you're worrying that this was all your fault because you didn't go with them."

I looked over at Dad sharply at that, but he didn't look back at me.

"I've felt that way before," Dad continued. "There are just some things that have to run their course, and this was probably one of them. There probably was nothing you could have done even if you had gone."

"That's not very reassuring, Dad." I looked back over at Magnus, Ratchet, and Optimus, noticing that Magnus was moving a little. "At least he's alive...."

"And that is something we can definitely be thankful for," Dad agreed instantly. "So don't worry, okay? We can still beat the Cons."

I looked up at Dad and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We definitely can."

"And if we bring in that Maximal buddy of Joshua's, we'll definitely be able to take care of that Predacon!" Miko piped up, popping up on my other side. "So don't worry, okay? We got this."

I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit as my friend and my father both tried to comfort me over what had happened to Magnus, Wheeljack, and Wildfire. "Right. I'll try not to worry too much."

"That's my girl." Dad nodded in approval.


	38. Meeting the Maximal

** Maria's POV **

The next day, Ratchet attached Magnus' prosthetic after sending Joshua and Jolt through the Ground Bridge and back to their lab to fetch their mysterious Maximal friend.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy when I finally saw it, because Matthew took one look at the three-fingered, hook-like thing and promptly started whistling "Never Smile At A Crocodile."

"Ultra Magnus is _not_ Captain Hook," I hissed at my brother. "He's not free enough with his emotions for that."

Matthew raised an eyebrow, then grinned and turned and walked off, singing quietly, "Never smile at a Predacon...."

I groaned and put my head in my hands. "This isn't something to joke about, you moron."

"She's right," Dad spoke up. I looked over, catching sight of Dad frowning disapprovingly at my brother. "You really shouldn't tease him because of his hand -- Ratchet probably would have made a better one if he had more materials to work with."

"It remains uncertain if Ultra Magnus' appendage will be fit for battle," Ratchet said as he stepped away from where Ultra Magnus was lying on his makeshift operating table. "Though it should prove functional after a requisite amount of therapy."

"That is all we can hope for, old friend," Optimus replied, turning to face the medic and giving him a nod.

"You did your best," First Aid added. "Ultra Magnus is going to be fine."

"You doing okay?"

I turned my head a little in order to see where Wheeljack, Arcee, and Wildfire were standing off to one side.

"I'm still two-fisted," Wheeljack replied, looking down at his servos.

"I'm alright," Wildfire said, her arms folded across her chest as she looked over at Ultra Magnus. "If we were in the gladiator pits, First Aid or one of the other medics probably would have given him a melee weapon of his choice to replace that hand. He's not going to be able to activate the blaster that's in his arm now, anyway."

Smokescreen turned to face the others and started walking over, facing Bumblebee. "Wait and see. That claw is going to become Magnus' signature. You know, the way that you own that voicebox that Ratchet slapped into your throat?"

** " _Own_ it?"  ** Bumblebee sounded irritated. **"Excuse me?"**

"I-I mean, everyone understands you fine!" Smokescreen continued. "Why would you even consider getting it fixed now...right?"

** "Shut up!" ** Bumblebee barked back, holding up a hand. He turned and walked across the hanger, muttering, **"I liked my old voice just _fine,_ thanks."**

"What'd he say?" Liz came over and stood next to me by the railing.

"Bumblebee liked how his old voice sounded, apparently," I replied.

"How'd he lose it in the first place?" Liz looked between me, Matthew, Mom, and Dad. "Do you guys know?"

Dad and Mom looked at each other while Matthew and I frowned.

"Well, I knew something happened that made him lose it," I commented, rubbing the back of my head as I thought back to when I was five years old.

"Something happened all right," Dad replied. "Megatron tore it out in Tyger Pax, when Optimus shot the AllSpark out of the planet and into space. Ratchet wasn't able to save it."

"We ended up changing his code name from Wasp to Silent Stinger after that," Mom added.

My hand went absently to my throat at that, and I swallowed reflexively before looking over at Bumblebee. I saw Jack, Miko, and Raf on the platform between the medbay and the main computer terminal, watching Bumblebee stomp off.

"Hey, look on the bright side!" Bulkhead pointed out. "Wheeljack, Wildfire, and Ultra Magnus single-handedly put the kibosh on Project Predacon."

"Though at least one beast that we know of remains," Optimus pointed out grimly in reply. "The one that has demonstrated the ability to transform."

I felt a grim feeling settle in the pit of my stomach at that. There was that particular problem now, which I hoped that Jolt and Joshua would be able to solve with their Maximal friend.

_ Beep! Beep! Beep! _

Speak of the Reploid....

I put a hand on my left ear as Joshua's name appeared in one corner of my vision. "Yo. You ready to come back?"

_ ::Indeed. Rhinox will be coming with us, as well:: _

I gave a nod. "Okay. One Ground Bridge, coming up." I raised my voice. "Hey, Ratchet! Joshua and Jolt are ready to come back! And they're bringing the Maximal with them!"

Ratchet looked over in my direction and gave a nod before he moved over to the Ground Bridge controls and activated it.

I caught sight of Miko eagerly leaning over the platform while Raf and Jack stood behind her, watching the Ground Bridge as Jolt walked through, Joshua sitting on his shoulder.

And then another figure stepped through.

Everyone's eyes widened as we got a good look at the newcomer: a green-and-brown, short Cybertronian mech who had what looked like parts of an animal's skin over his armor. There were even _teeth_ sticking out of his chest!

"Whoa...." Collin peered over the railing with an expression of amazement.

The mech looked somewhat surprised as he looked around. "Well, I knew there were going to be more of you, but I hadn't been expecting that you would be so tall."

I blinked, noticing that the Cybertronian's voice was...well, I guess the best way to describe it was calm and a little gruff, but...well, he sounded like a smart gentleman.

"I don't think we knew quite what we were expecting, either," First Aid replied, stepping forward and looking at the mech curiously. "You are Rhinox, right? The Maximal that Joshua and Jolt have been telling us about?"

The mech put a servo on his chest and gave a bow. "Indeed. And you are?"

"First Aid. I work with Ratchet." First Aid nodded back to Ratchet, whose jaw had dropped as soon as Rhinox had entered the base. "We're both medics."

Rhinox looked over at Ratchet and let out an amused chuckle, causing Ratchet to quickly regain his composure.

The rest of the Autobots started moving forward, introducing themselves and greeting the Maximal with the kind of awe and amazement that could come up whenever someone new and amazing showed up -- kind of like the new celebrity who hadn't gotten too much attention from the general public yet.

That is, until Wildfire led Sparkseer, Coil, and Shape-Change to introduce themselves. Optimus followed after them with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Hey." Wildfire gave a nod. "The name's Wildfire. These are my and Jolt's teammates Sparkseer and Shape-Change, and Jolt's little brother, Coil."

Rhinox gave a nod. "Jolt told me about you. A gladiator from the mines of Cybertron. You certainly look like you could hold your own in a fight."

Wildfire grunted in response, smirking a little. "I definitely can. And you?"

"Oh, no." Rhinox shook his head. "My beast mode may have good defense, but I am not built to be in the middle of a battle like most of you seem to be. I am far more comfortable in a lab setting. My teammates, on the other hand, were much more active in the field."

"Teammates?" I repeated in surprise.

Rhinox looked over at me and nodded. "Most of us are not loners by nature, and we spread from Cybertron in teams. My team survived coming here, and I highly doubt that any one of them would have died easily."

"What do you mean?" First Aid spoke up, frowning.

"Well, it is thanks to Joshua that I am moving about." Rhinox nodded to Jolt and Joshua. "I had been in stasis lock because of the Energon radiation from the crystals -- my kind cannot be near them in our two-legged modes without fearing system damage. Joshua and Jolt removed me from there and successfully brought me back. They seem to believe that it might be possible to find my teammates, as well."

"If given the chance, I could calibrate some scanners to search for Spark energies hidden in the mines that the Decepticons might have clear control of," Joshua spoke up.

"And in the meantime, I am more than willing to assist you in taking down these 'Decepticons' and the Predacon that have been giving you trouble," Rhinox added. "If you will have me."

I cocked my head to the side at the Maximal's words, then smirked as Optimus stepped forward.

"And we accept your offer," Optimus said. "My name is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots."

Rhinox's optics widened at Optimus' words, and he gave a deep bow that nearly caused his helm to hit his knees. "It is a great honor to be able to stand in the presence of a Prime, even after all the time that has passed."

Optimus approached the Maximal and placed a servo on Rhinox's shoulder, causing him to look up. "I am afraid that much has changed since you fell into stasis lock. I assume that Jolt and Joshua made sure to fill you in on what they could?"

Rhinox rose from his bow and nodded. "They did inform me, yes, but something tells me they were not quite aware of everything."

"A lot's happened in the last few days," Matthew agreed as he moved closer to the railing.

I snorted. "'A lot' is an understatement, considering that you guys blew up Shockwave's lab yesterday."

" _Blew up_?" Rhinox repeated, looking at me in surprise. He looked over at Jolt. "I was aware that their attempt to clone Predacon fossils was halted, but I wasn't aware of the methods that you used!"

"Wheeljack did it." Wildfire pointed at the Wrecker, who let out a spluttering noise. 

"H-hey!" Wheeljack frowned at Wildfire as I grinned at his reaction. "What did you expect me to do? We were going to have a bunch of monsters on us in seconds, and I wasn't planning on finding out what would happen with the Cons if they got their servos on them. Facing one's bad enough."

Rhinox cleared his throat, causing Wheeljack to duck his head.

"Oh, right. Sorry, I didn't mean any offense." The Wrecker looked away from Rhinox quickly, muttering something under his breath.

"None taken," Rhinox replied evenly. He looked up at Optimus. "I see that you have to deal with some troublemakers, as well."

"Troublemakers?" Wildfire snorted. "If anything, the humans are the troublemakers." She motioned to where most of us were standing together, then nodded to Miko, Jack, and Raf. "Especially Maria." She gave me a pointed look.

I stuck my tongue out in response. "You're just saying that because you were in my head for twelve years."

"The Dimension Crosser?" Rhinox looked at me with an expression of interest. "I hadn't thought that you would consider her a troublemaker, considering what she is most likely here in order to do."

Wildfire and I exchanged looks at that.

"There is likely to be something coming in the future that could tip the balance of the world," Rhinox added.

"Uh...." I rubbed the back of my head. "While that may be true, this is actually where I live. This is my home world." I paused. "And...I haven't been called a Dimension Crosser before. Mostly, I've been called a World Jumper."

Rhinox blinked in surprise. "Truly? I wasn't aware that it was possible to have a Dimension Crosser claim a world as their home. I have worked with one other -- a Maximal wolf who called himself Fang. He seemed to know what exactly it was that he needed to do, which put him at odds with either Bighorn Convoy, or Rattrap, who is the worst pessimist imaginable. I have no idea as to why it is that he thought every encounter we had with the Predacons would have led to us all offlining." Rhinox shook his helm, appearing to be somewhat lost in his memories. "And now I find myself actually _missing_ it...."

"Bighorn Convoy? Rattrap?" I blinked. "I'm going to guess Rattrap has a rat for his other mode, but...Bighorn?"

"I believe you would call his beast mode a mammoth," Rhinox replied. "He and his brother, Lio Convoy, were our leaders. Bighorn worked to unite the Maximals on Cybertron, while Lio Convoy led exploration groups to other worlds."

"Is Convoy a family name?" Matthew asked.

"It is a title reserved for Maximals, from what I understand," Optimus replied. "A Convoy might have been considered second-in-command or at the same level of leadership as a Prime in the past."

Rhinox looked at Optimus in surprise at that; I found it a little weird that he looked somewhat confused for a moment before he recovered his composure and nodded. "That's right. Although, considering what Jolt and Joshua have told me, it seems that Bighorn wasn't able to do as much as he and Lio had hoped when it came to uniting us."

"It might not have anything to do with your leader's brother," Sparkseer spoke up. "Many records from that far back have been corrupted or lost, from what I am aware of. The Cybertron as we know today came about after the Great Cataclysm, which changed the planet's surface and wiped out the Maximals and Predacons from the face of the planet."

"Alpha Trion might have known something," Smokescreen piped up. When the others looked at him, he added quickly, "I-I mean, he _was_ the head of the archives in the Hall of Records. And he did tell Optimus about the Omega Keys through the Star Saber."

"Alpha Trion?" Rhinox repeated. "The Head Archivist still lives?"

"You know Alpha Trion?" Smokescreen asked, optics widening in surprise. "Whoa! I didn't think that he was alive before the Cataclysm!"

"Alpha Trion has many secrets that even I am not aware of," Optimus said. There was an added rumbling to his voice that almost made me think he was laughing on the inside.

"As far as we know, he's hiding somewhere on Cybertron," Arcee replied. "None of us have seen him since the Exile."

Rhinox frowned. "That is...dangerous. He could be dead by now, for all you know."

Optimus actually paused at that. "Alpha Trion is more capable of defending himself than we may ever know. We will not know if he still lives until we are capable of retuning to Cybertron, which may not take place for some time."

"With Megatron and his Decepticons hanging around here, that's going to be a while," Wildfire added. "Especially considering the Predacon that is working with them. Now that we've seen him transform, things are going to get to be even more hectic."

"You weren't aware that the Predacon could transform?" Rhinox said in surprise. "Interesting. You thought that he was a simple animal before?"

"The Cons used him to hunt us down," Wheeljack said, scowling.

"That stupid Puff nearly killed us!" Miko added, scowling.

"He didn't look puffy _or_ friendly when we ran into him in those caves yesterday," Wildfire pointed out, frowning. "From what he sounded, it was some kind of warrior king."

"Warrior king?" Rhinox's optics widened. "Oh, dear...those Decepticons have revived one of the more dangerous Predacons that Bighron Convoy had to contend against for the peace that he and Lio desired." He gained a more serious expression. "He called himself Predaking."

"Predaking...." I rolled the name around in my mouth. "So, they have the leader of the Predacons working for them now? It's probably not going to be too much longer before he and Megatron start butting heads." I paused at that, then frowned. "Wait...."

"What?" Dad came over, frowning at me. "Did you have a vision or something?"

"No, nothing like that." I shook my head. "It's just...how serendipitous was it that we managed to find Shockwave's lab and blow up it and the Predacon clones with it? That seemed a bit too easy, you know?"

"Are you suggesting that the Decepticons _led_ us to the lab?" Bulkhead asked, frowning.

"It makes sense." Dad walked over, his arms folded across his chest. "Megatron is used to having the power he has, right? He's going to make sure that he isn't going to have to deal with a fight for that power."

"Tyrants don't like power struggles inside their forces; they're going to want to hold onto it for as long as they can." Mom nodded in agreement. "He's going to want to keep Predaking loyal. If his up-and-coming forces are destroyed by, say, the Autobots--"

"Then all of Predaking's focus is going to be on destroying us," Arcee finished, nodding. "Megatron set us up."

Rhinox looked shaken at Arcee's statement. "Oh, dear."

"Well, this isn't going to be fun," Wildfire commented dryly. "And considering how he acted after we blew up the lab, he's probably going to be too stubborn to listen to us trying to convince him of anything."

I groaned. "He's going to be like the Hulk, then. Great."

Rhinox gave me a confused look, only for Optimus to get his attention again.

"As Predaking has displayed that he is intelligent, there is still a chance that he can be reasoned with," Optimus said. "There is also a chance that we will be able to find the members of your team, Rhinox. Can we count on you to assist us as much as you can?"

Rhinox gave another bow -- although, this one wasn't as deep as the other one he had given Optimus before. "I will assist you to the best of my ability."

"And we would appreciate all the help we can get," Ratchet replied. "Especially considering the energy crisis we are in already. Energon is becoming much harder to come by, and the mine Jolt found you in might not be enough to sustain us."

Rhinox blinked. "You mean that you aren't able to take in other materials?"

My eyebrows rose at the Maximal's statement. "You can?"

"We are built to eat organic material first and foremost. What kind of organic material depends on our beast modes. For example, Bighorn Convoy and I prefer vegetation, while Lio Convoy ate meat." Rhinox shifted his stance a little, a somewhat sour look on his face. "And _Rattrap_ ate a little of everything."

When I heard the sour tone in his voice, I couldn't help but snicker a little. "Sounds like you two didn't get along all that well."

Rhinox snorted. "Rattrap was good with explosives, but he was _not_ good with keeping his workspace tidy. _Especially_ with his paranoia and pessimism."

"Prime!"

I saw Miko roll her eyes and say something, and I couldn't tell what it was she was saying -- probably something about how Fowler was also a bit like that.

Fowler leaned over the medbay portion of the hanger, a serious look on his face. "We have trouble brewing. The Cons staged a snatch-and-grab at the Los Alamos nuclear plant late last night and made off with 20 tons of control rods."

"Control rods?" I blinked. "Aren't those used in nuclear reactors?"'

"To keep them from going into a nuclear meltdown," Joshua confirmed.

"What are the Decepticons looking to build?" Optimus said, frowning.

"Well, whatever it is, it probably isn't going to be good," Liz said. The rest of us nodded in agreement.

"I don't like not knowing," I muttered. "I've got a _bad_ feeling about all of this."

"You and me both," Dad replied. "Frankenstein's probably plotting _something,_ and--"

"--Whatever it is that he's up to, it's not going to be good," Mom finished. "We're going to have to be on our guard. All of us."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, definitely."


	39. Chapter 39

** Maria's POV **

_ ::Prime!:: _

Our heads turned to the computer when we heard Fowler's voice coming from the computer.

_ ::It's the Cons again -- in progress this time:: _

I leapt to my feet, disrupting Jack, Miko, and Raf as they sat on the couch pouring over the Covenant.

A beeping noise came from the Ground Bridge terminal.

"Coordinates received, Agent Fowler," Ratchet reported. He activated the Ground Bridge a moment later.

I felt really antsy as I moved over to the railing, ready to jump down and fly over at a moment's notice. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was looking for some action.

"Let's roll." Ultra Magnus started towards the open Ground Bridge, having awoken from surgery a few hours ago.

"Epp epp!" Ratchet stepped in front of the Wrecker Commander and raised a servo in warning. "Your ability to roll remains predicated upon further exploration of your manual dexterity."

Ultra Magnus looked at his hook-like hand and frowned at it, only managing to get the three fingers to twitch. I couldn't help but get the feeling that it looked difficult for Magnus to even manage that -- maybe even a little painful.

"I'm afraid that Ratchet's authority supersedes my own in medical matters," Optimus said, stepping forward.

"And it should," Rhinox added from where he stood behind Ultra Magnus. "Predacons and Maximals are capable of holding grudges for long periods of time, and will remember the exact transgression as soon as they remember your scent or your face. It might be wise if you were to stay inside the base for a time."

Ultra Magnus gave a grumpy sigh. "Understood."

"Who's going, then?" Wildfire asked.

"Sparkseer, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Arcee, Wheeljack, Shape-Change." Optimus nodded to each of the Autobots in turn, then transformed and drove through the Ground Bridge. The others were quick to follow after him.

I started to move to join them, but then Wildfire put a servo in front of me and shook her helm at me, frowning.

I scowled back as the Ground Bridge shut down. "I'm getting antsy. Something's going to happen."

"With the Decepticons involved, that's a definite," Wildfire responded dryly. "Optimus can take care of himself; he doesn't need you hanging over him like some concerned parent."

I turned red at that. "Y-you just--" I threw my hands up in the air and let out a blast of air in a growling groan. "Do you realize just how nuts that sounds?!"

"Exactly." Wildfire leaned down and fixed me with a glare. "So _don't worry."_

I frowned, then turned away and walked back to the couch, shaking my head.

"Is Maria...always like this?" I heard Rhinox ask as I sat down.

"No; she's more calm about stuff like this normally." I saw Wildfire look over at me out of the corner of her eye. "Something must be bothering her if she's acting like this, though."

"It's just a gut feeling for now," I replied, not looking over at them. "No visions yet, but you'll know when I get one."

Then the computer beeped, and Optimus' voice came through.

_ ::Ratchet, reopen the Ground Bridge, but ensure that the humans and Reploids are kept at a safe distance, for we will be returning with a Decepticon prisoner:: _

I stiffened. "He's coming back with a _what?!"_

Wildfire moved over in front of the entertainment platform as Ratchet quickly reactivated the Ground Bridge. Still, I was able to peer around Wildfire in order to see who exactly it was that they were bringing in.

My eyes widened when I saw the familiar form of the thin purple mech with a glassy mask over his face that Bulkhead and Shape-Change were dragging in.

" _Slenderman,"_ I hissed.

Mom let out a gasp from behind me.

"Slenderman?" Miko spoke up, confused.

"Soundwave," Dad replied as I moved to Wildfire's other side in order to see where the 'bots were taking Soundwave. I caught sight of Jolt standing next to a berth that had been tilted up at an angle, which automatically produced restraints that kept Soundwave's arms and legs from moving too far.

"Seriously?!" Miko ran over to stand next to me to get a good look at the Decepticon; the rest of the kids followed soon after. "Whoa...I didn't think that we'd ever be able to catch a Con! This is awesome!"

"I wouldn't be so sure," Wildfire muttered in reply.

Soundwave started moving, testing his bonds and trying to get off the berth.

"Because we have the foresight to shield our new base, our captive will be unable to transmit his coordinates to the Decepticon warship," Ratchet said, walking over with Optimus to stand in front of Soundwave.

"Nor will they in turn be able to pinpoint his location," Optimus added.

"Guess we have all the time in the world to make Mr. Personality tell us everything he knows." Wheeljack slammed his fists together grinning.

Wildfire made an odd-sounding humming noise that made her sound unsure. I looked back at Mom and Dad, who were remaining by the couch with odd expressions on their faces.

"Something tells me it isn't going to be easy," I muttered.

"Is it ever?" Matthew replied dryly from where he stood next to me.

"The Con's surveillance chief must know a lot, right?" Jack asked.

"But, Soundwave doesn't speak." Miko paused. "Does he?"

"Not that I know of." I shrugged.

"I'm not sure he even has a face." Raf looked uneasy at the thought.

Collin shivered. "Then he'd _really_ be like that Slenderman monster everyone's been talking about."

"Soundwave used to speak, from what I've heard," Wildfire said, looking back at us. "According to some of the gladiators I knew, he used to work in the Senate, but then he stepped down and took a vow of silence. His voice hasn't been used since before the war, and that has been a long time."

"Why is Megatron stealing human technology?" Optimus asked, his attention fully on Soundwave. "What is he attempting to build?"

Soundwave's answer sounded like something that a DJ might throw together at some party when messing around with records on a turntable. It surprised me enough that I stiffened a bit.

"Whoa." Miko's eyebrows shot up. "Optimus Prime: The Remix."

"I don't think this is something that we should be awed about," Liz said, frowning. "He's toying with us."

"Gee, what gave you _that_ idea?" Matthew responded snarkily.

I saw Optimus step back from Soundwave as Bulkhead formed one of his wrecking ball melee weapons. Frowning, I leaned over the railing a little. "Wildfire?"

"Soundwave's got one of those smiley face things that you kids use in text messages on his mask," Wildfire explained, frowning. "Apparently, he thinks he's pretty funny."

"Why don't I wipe that smile right off his face?" Bulkhead asked. I'm pretty sure he was glaring at Soundwave.

Shape-Change moved a half-step in front of her fellow Wrecker, shaking her helm slightly.

"Soundwave, we have treated you fairly," Optimus said, ignoring Bulkhead and SC. "For the sake of the natives of this planet, tell us what Megatron is attempting to build, before we are forced to rely upon less civil methods of interrogation."

I frowned, but before I could voice my opinion of what Optimus had just suggested, an ear-splitting shriek suddenly cut through the base, causing all of us to wince and grip our ears. Most of us let out yells of pain, but Wildfire, Shape-Change, and Sparkseer flinched momentarily before they went back to glaring at Soundwave.

As soon as the shriek was gone, I tapped Wildfire's arm. "What did you--"

"We're used to decreasing the amount of sound our audios can take in as a result of fighting in the arenas," Wildfire explained. "Considering that the crowds would get to be so loud that the entire colosseum could shake."

"Scrap this!" Ratchet declared. "Soundwave is no ordinary Cybertronian -- inside or out! So I would strongly suggest opening him up so that we can have a first-hand look at the information recorded on his drives."

"Dissecting him?" I guessed.

"Ratchet." Shape-Change's voice had an air of warning about it. "I don't think that--"

A beeping noise came from Soundwave a moment later.

"Uh oh," Arcee said.

Bulkhead, on the other hand, had a different reaction. "All right! He's downloading data!"

"No!" Shape-Change turned and glared at her fellow Wrecker. "Soundwave is _erasing_ data!"

I frowned. "How does SC know that?"

I didn't get an answer from Wildfire -- mostly because of what happened next.

Soundwave _spoke._

_ "Soundwave: Superior. Autobots: Inferior." _

And not with one of those little audio clips that he normally used -- this...this wasn't like anything that I had heard before.

I noticed that, while most of the Autobots shifted their stances and stared at Soundwave, Shape-Change stiffened instead as the Decepticon went limp. There was definitely a part of what was going on that I didn't know about, and I was itching to find out what it was that I wasn't understanding.

"Is he...." Bulkhead trailed off.

Ratchet gave Soundwave a quick scan with that beam he has in his arm. "His vital signs remain functional. It seems that he has simply severed all communications by crashing his own drives."

"What does that mean?" Miko asked, looking up at Wildfire.

"It means that he's caused himself to glitch _on purpose_ so that we wouldn't be able to interrogate him," Shape-Change replied as she turned and faced us. "He did it so that he would need to connect to one of his Mini-Cons in order to be able to recover."

"How do you know that?" Wheeljack asked, frowning.

Shape-Change paused. "Because he taught me how to do the same."

My eyebrows shot up. "Wait, what? Are you saying that Soundwave was your _teacher?_ "

Shape-Change nodded.

"It was a different time, back then," Wildfire said. "Shape-Change needed to learn how to use her abilities, and Soundwave had a basic understanding of them as well as what she could be capable of."

"It was because of him that I learned about espionage and how to surprise your opponent," SC added. "In the beginning, that's all it was -- teacher and student. But, when Megatron became more ambitious, it started to turn into something far different. I managed to leave before it could turn into servant...and master."

I couldn't help but swallow nervously at that.

** Time Break **

The next day, Soundwave was still strapped to the berth, unmoving, and still extremely creepy. Jack, Miko, and Raf had been quickly ushered out of the hanger that morning by Nurse Darby, who had taken one look at the Con and declared that they were going to be spending time in the makeshift shelter on-base and actually spend some time with the other Jasper kids, who were living on the base until the army could figure out where to send them.

I was glad they'd left the Covenant behind, because I was getting bored with just sitting around waiting for something to happen, and I needed something to do.

I heard something shift underneath the platform, making me want to head down and have a look for a moment before I remembered that Rhinox was down there in his beast form. He'd gone down there after Soundwave had crashed his drives, and Joshua was down there with him, working on something. What it was, I didn't have a clue.

_ ::Prime!:: _

I looked up when I heard Fowler's voice coming fromt the computer's com system.

_ ::These recent Con heists have General Bryce breathing down my neck! So I've got to get back to the barbecue today for another grilling:: _

I frowned at that.

"Ouch," Dad muttered, wincing.

"Understood, Agent Fowler," Optimus replied. "And, rest assured, should our prisoner return online, we will resume our interrogation."

_ ::Sounds like a plan:: _ Fowler replied. _::I'll get back to base as soon as possible::_

As Fowler cut the connection, I looked over at where Soundwave was still tied down, unmoving, then shuddered. "I know I've seen some creepy stuff, but Soundwave has been giving me the willies."

"You and me both," Dad replied. "Your mother gave him the code name 'Slenderman' for a reason."

I snorted. "Yeah, that's for sure. And I doubt that he's going to be talking to us anytime soon, either. He could be awake and he's just _faking_ being offline for all we know."

Ratchet snorted at that, looking over at us. "Now that, I doubt. Crashing one's drives would take quite some time to recover from on your own, especially considering that he certainly doesn't have _any_ of his Mini-Cons nearby. That alone would hinder his ability to recover, which means we are going to have to be patient."

"Well, _that's_ great," I groused. "The Decepticons are doing who-knows-what, and they've _probably_ noticed that their communications officer has gone missing, which _means_ that they're going to be planning how to get him back _or_ how to get whatever goal they've set now without him. I don't know about you, but I don't like the sound of that."

"You're not the only one." Matthew came over and sat on the couch next to me. "I mean, the Cons are definitely up to _something,_ so it's a matter of time before we end up getting hit in the face with it."

"And I hope we're ready when it does," Dad added. "Or else who knows _what's_ going to happen."

I nodded in agreement.

** Time Break **

It only took Fowler a couple of hours before he called us again.

_ ::I'm on my way to the base, but I just got word that the Cons busted into the Solaris Particle Collider Project at the South Pole:: _

I leapt to my feet again at that, causing Matt and Dad to get jostled a bit on the couch. "A particle collider? What do they want with that?"

_ ::I dunno, but whatever it is, it can't be good!:: _

Optimus turned to face the rest of us. "Autobots--"

Ultra Magnus stepped forward and closed his hook-hand with a sharp _snap!_

"Ep, ep!" Ratchet gave Magnus a look of warning.

"Doc, the Commander's ready." Wheeljack walked over, smirking.

Ratchet glared at Wheeljack for a moment, then looked up at Magnus and sighed irritably. "Fine, fine."

As Ratchet walked over to the Ground Bridge, Optimus turned his attention to the rest of the group. "Bulkhead, Smokescreen, and Sparkseer, you will remain here with Ratchet, First Aid, Rhinox, and Jolt to guard our prisoner and keep an eye on the humans, Reploids, and Coil. Everyone else, transform and roll out!"

My shoulders sagged slightly when Optimus said that. I definitely wasn't going to be able to get him or anyone else to let me head out there now, that was for sure.

Ratchet was quick to activate the Ground Bridge and send most of the Bots out.

"Ratchet, can you Ground Bridge us back home?"

I looked over at Dad in surprise. "Dad?"

"I just want to make sure that everyone back home knows we're not dead or anything," Dad said, nodded to me. "I know you kids have an official excuse not to be in school, but I'm sure that there are some people who are going to start wondering about whether or not we're going to be around, you know?"

"Well, I guess. But does that mean we're _all_ going to be heading back?"

Something in my voice made him laugh. "You can stay if you want to. I'm not going to stop you."

I nodded. "Yeah, I am _definitely_ going to be sticking around, that's for sure."

"So, how many of you want to go back, exactly?" Ratchet asked in an impatient tone.

It didn't take him too long for him to get his answers...and by the time that the Ground Bridge had closed a second time, Joshua and I were the only two human-sized people on-base -- except for Coil, but it was clear that he was starting to get bigger.

"Can't we throw a tarp over him?" Bulkhead asked, turning his attention to Soundwave. "He's creepin' me out."

"Yeah," Smokescreen agreed. "It's like he's watching -- no matter where you go."

"Except that he isn't," Sparkseer pointed out.

"Would you stop focusing on what Soundwave can or cannot _see_ and help me figure out what he did not _tell?"_ Ratchet demanded in a harsh tone.

"Like why Megatron would be interested in something believed to generate enough power to create a black hole?" Jolt added.

"Black holes?" Smokescreen repeated. "So...Megatron's looking to swallow up the known universe?"

"And everything in it," Bulkhead added.

"He wants to rule it, not destroy it," I pointed out instantly. "If he destroyed it, there would be nothing left for him to rule."

"Exactly," First Aid said, nodding.

"Destruction is something that Megatron has created, but that does not mean that it is the only thing he knows," Sparkseer agreed.

"So he would merely want to harness the power of something capable of swallowing worlds," Ratchet said. "In...order to...create one." His optics widened. "Oh, my."

"What is it?" I asked, leaning over the railing of the platform I was on. "Have you figured it out?"

"Indeed I have." Ratchet quickly went over to the computer and opened a channel to Optimus. "Optimus, I know this hardly seems the time, but it may aid you in your task."

_ ::Go ahead:: _

"I believe that Megatron may be attempting to rebuild the Omega Lock."

I stiffened at Ratchet's words, remembering the story that I'd heard from them -- how they had stopped Megatron from cyberforming Earth, and the creation of the momentary base the Cons had on the planet before we blew it up.

So, I also knew that the Omega Lock was pretty much the one thing that could be used to make Cybertron as it used to be.

"Do we let him?" Ratchet asked in a softer tone of voice.

_ ::...No. For you know as well as I that Megatron will use a reconstructed Omega Lock to cyberform both Cybertron and Earth. And that is one abuse of power that we cannot allow:: _

Ratchet sighed. "Understood." He cut the connection.

I frowned at Ratchet's reaction. "Ratchet...."

Smokescreen spoke up -- probably to try and cheer the medic up. "Ratchet, it may not be with the Forge or the Omega Lock, but we're gonna find a way to get our planet repaired."

"Indeed." Rhinox's voice came from below the platform, making me jump a bit. "And, hopefully, we will be able to find the rest of my team. We will help you in any way that we can -- I know that Lio Convoy would not allow any of us to stand by and not help others in need."

"There's no way that I'm planning on standing by, either," First Aid agreed.

"Or me," I added.

I think we were starting to get used to Soundwave's presence, but at the same time that Fowler stepped out of his office -- he must've arrived while we were distracted by talking to Optimus -- we got another unexpected visitor.

_ Crash! _

I turned my head sharply when I heard the destruction of glass, and my eyes widened when I saw what looked like some kind of purple-gray, bird-like robot fly into the hangar.

"Oh, no," Ratchet said with a tone of dread.

"Laserbeak!" Sparkseer exclaimed.

The bird -- Laserbeak -- started circling above Soundwave, shooting at the Bots, then at Soundwave's restraints.

"Oh no, you don't!" I activated my Buster and charged up a shot. "Take this! Charged Buster Shot!"

The large, orange ball of energy got Laserbeak in the wing, sending something flying as the robot started to dive towards Soundwave. It faltered in its flight path for a moment, flying over Ratchet and the others unsteadily as they tried to shoot back at it, but then it somehow managed to circle back around and attach itself to Soundwave's chest.

"Uh oh." I started charging up another shot as I saw Soundwave's visor light up. "Guys, he's moving!"

Bulkhead charged, roaring as he prepared to slam one of his wrecking balls into Soundwave, but the Con managed to hit him back. Then Smokescreen jumped up and aimed to kick Soundwave in the face, but a _tentacle_ came up out of _nowhere_ and pushed Smokescreen onto the floor before _electrocuting_ him.

"Okay, this guy is starting to look more and more like Slenderman by the minute," I muttered. "Joshua? Can you do something?"

I fired a shot at Soundwave as he attached a _second_ tentacle to Bulkhead and started electrocuting the Wrecker. I managed to hit the Con in the arm, but I didn't see the attack do any real damage.

And then...Soundwave turned his head and looked over in my direction.

"Yaaaa!" Fowler ran forward, carrying a fire extinguisher of all things, but Soundwave hit him back with one of his tentacles without even looking at the agent. And then the other one...started gunning for me.

I backed up -- slowly, at first, then turned and started running down to where Fowler was. I barely managed to get off the platform before Rhinox _exploded_ out from under the platform in his rhino beast mode, bellowing angrily. I caught sight of Joshua riding on his back, a determined frown on his face.

...only for Soundwave to quickly step to the side, letting Rhinox and Joshua slam into Sparkseer and Jolt instead, knocking all four of them out at once.

"No!" I gritted my teeth. "Why you -- stop that! White Flare: 25 Percent! Fire Spark!"

The sphere of white-yellow flames that I threw at Soundwave got him in one of his tentacles, rendering the limb useless as sparks of electricity ran up and down its length.

Meanwhile, the other one zapped First Aid into unconsciousness as she let out a yell of pain.

I started charing up another fire attack, wondering how well Soundwave would handle 100 percent as I charged at him, yelling. "White Fl--"

_ Zap! _

I was suddenly blown back by a surprise attack from the tentacle I had _thought_ I had taken out of commission, causing my vision to go staticky. I tried to stay conscious, but the electrical backlash from the attack was causing too much damage to let me do so.

As I blacked out, I felt myself get lifted up as Soundwave started moving towards Ratchet....


	40. Jailbreak!

** Maria's POV **

I woke up with a kink in my neck.

I sat up, grunting as I massaged my neck, keeping my eyes tightly shut in response to the pain. "Okay, _ow._ It feels like a Lucario sat on my neck." When the pain started to fade, I cracked open an eye in order to see where I was.

The other one flew open almost instantly.

"Oh, no." I jumped to my feet, making the glass cylinder I was in swing a bit in response to my movement as I looked around at the dark purple walls and the computers and technology that definitely looked Cybertronian. "Oh no oh no oh no. Soundwave nabbed me!" I paused as that sank in. "I'm on the _Nemesis._ Chaos Emeralds and Master Balls, I'm in trouble. I'd better get out of here."

Which meant that I had to figure out how to break the glass of the cylinder, or else who knew _what_ was going to happen to me. At least I knew a little about _Nemesis'_ floor map, so I wasn't too particularly worried, but the fact that I was going to be running into Decepticons all over the place? I was definitely going to have to be careful.

I was rapping on the glass in order to get a feel for how strong and thick it probably was when a purple mech with one optic -- Shockwave -- and Megatron came into the room. I caught sight of Starscream trailing behind them, looking cocky and smug like he usually did.

Starscream snorted. " _That's_ what you led us in here for? Some human?"

"Look more closely," Shockwave replied. "That's the human who has been helping the Autobots. The one their media calls 'World Jumper'."

I stepped back from the glass and folded my arms across my chest as Starscream spluttered. Megatron's optic ridges shot up at the same time.

"So, you've heard of me," I said, doing my best to keep my nerves reigned in.

"As you carry a presence all over the planet's media, it would have been illogical not to notice," Shockwave replied in what sounded at least a little bit like a monotone.

"Your presence with the Autobots intrigued my head scientist," Megatron said in a tone that sounded like some kind of experienced politician. "I find it odd that you would decide to reveal yourself to the world only when the Autobots have nearly been wiped out -- and at the same time as a group of Autobots who have been reported as missing since they broke into Kaon to rescue that traitor Sentinel Prime."

Megatron's tone became a bit sour at the end, but it was pretty well-hidden. Obviously, this guy knew how to speak despite the fact that he was a gladiator.

"If you mean Wildfire, then that's because I was partnered with her for twelve years." I raised an eyebrow. "What the others were doing I wasn't keeping track of; they were off doing their own things."

"Wildfire? With you?" Starscream came forward and poked the glass cylinder, making it rock. I shifted my stance in order to keep my balance; Earthquakes were far worse than what he was trying to do in order to scare me. "I find that hard to imagine. Everyone _knows_ that she _hated_ Mini-Cons."

"I'm not a Mini-Con," I replied evenly. "I should think _that_ is obvious."

"But you have the mechanical make-up of a Mini-Con." Shockwave motioned to a computer monitor, and my eyes widened when I saw what looked like a scan of _me._

"Just because I do doesn't mean that I am," I replied evenly. On the inside, I felt like a whirlwind of emotions. "I'm different. Not human, not Cybertronian. And if you try to tear me apart to figure out what I am, I will make sure that you learn _why_ Wildfire calls me Flare-Up."

The Decepticons went silent at that, with Megatron looking _really_ interested while Starscream looked at least a little bit uneasy. Shockwave was...I don't know what he was feeling because of that one-optic face of his, but I couldn't help but get the feeling that Jolt was right in fearing this guy.

Well, if anything, I'd given them a reason to fear _me_.

And if _that_ didn't work out...well, I could always slip out using either a portal to another world for a moment or a Pokemon's help. Bringing in Chaos or one of the other Psychic-Types would definitely be an option if Shockwave was planning on tearing me apart in order to see what made me tick.

"As interesting as that little threat is, we have more important matters to discuss," Megatron said smoothly.

"As you have said, while you do carry a pseudo-Spark, you are neither Cybertronian, nor human," Shockwave said as Starscream backed away from my prison. "Which means that you have a creator."

"You're aware that I'm a World Jumper." I gave a half-shrug. "You should know something about that already, if you've been poking around on the Internet."

"I am not so inclined as to believe fictional materials," Shockwave replied curtly.

My eyes narrowed a little as I tried to consider what exactly it was that I could say without giving away too much. I really hoped that Shockwave wasn't going to start asking about the Protocol. "What may be fictional on one world may be real on another, and vice versa. It's part of a little Multiverse Theory add-on I've been working on."

Well, it was mostly Joshua who was working on it, but I wasn't going to tell them that.

"Illogical," Shockwave said. "The universe cannot be split into multiple universes with multiple dimensions."

"Indeed," Starscream agreed. "It wouldn't be able to hold itself together."

"Is that what you believe? Then why is it that I've been able to meet _three_ different Optimus Primes -- the one here, and then two others in two entirely different dimensions? With one having a corrupted Spark that led him to turn Cybertron into a wasteland, with only a Megatron _mathematician_ to stand in his way?"

_ That _ got their attention.

Starscream started snickering, but a dark glare from Megatron stopped him short.

"Illogical," Shockwave said again.

I shrugged. "Believe what you will, but I know what I saw."

"And why can't we use the Psychic Patch on _her?"_ Starscream asked, motioning to me with a sneer on his face.

I blinked at Starscream's question while Shockwave replied, "The Cortical Psychic Patch in incapable of connecting with human-based technology. We will have to find other methods in order to extract the information from this..robot's mind."

"Reploid," I corrected, feeling a little irritated. "I'm not some drone, I'm an android capable of replicating the thoughts and feelings of a human to the point that I may as well be one. Replicating Android. _Reploid._ Kapeesh?"

Shockwave's optic flickered.

Starscream came over again and rocked the cylinder a little more forcefully this time, actually making me stumble, but not lose my footing. "Shut up, you lousy little human-robot! You are in the presence of beings who are capable of destroying you by crushing you in our grip!"

"And your _leader's_ counterpart in one dimension was possessed by a computer program that was planning on destroy the universe," I said in a deadpan tone. "Brainiac was _not_ fun, _believe_ me."

Megatron snarled. "I am not capable of being controlled by any sort of being. What makes you think that this being you fought _was_ me?"

"Mirage Break!" A mirage of what a Brainiac-controlled Megatron looked like appeared in front of me, sneered at the Decepticons, then flickered out of sight.

Starscream let out a shriek and scrambled back, making me smirk at his reaction.

"An interesting ability," Shockwave noted. "I believe I will be studying that more when I have completed rebuilding the Omega Lock."

I felt something in me clench at the cycloptic Con's words -- partially because of his comment about studying me, and also because Shockwave just confirmed what Ratchet had suspected. My eyes widened slightly.

"Indeed," Megatron agreed.

I heard a door slide open, and my eyes moved, only to widen when I caught sight of Soundwave walking into the room.

Megatron turned to look at him. "Our other prisoner has awoken?"

Soundwave gave a soundless nod, then turned and looked over at me. I narrowed my eyes at him in response and gained a scowling expression. Then he turned and walked out of the room, followed by Megatron and Starscream, who sent me a proud smirk that only made my scowl increase, making the Seeker hurry out of the room.

This, unfortunately, left me alone with Shockwave.

Shockwave eyed me for a moment, then turned and started typing on one of the computers that was in the room. A moment later, my prison jolted, then lowered itself slowly as Shockwave walked back over.

I instantly started charging power as Shockwave picked up the glass cylinder I was temporarily trapped in. If he so much as touched me, I was going to make sure that he was going to get at least a _few_ scorch marks for his trouble.

Shockwave paused for a moment as his one servo closed around my prison. "Hm." Then he walked over to one of the walls and pushed against a portion with his gun-arm, causing a hidden panel as big as Shockwave was to open up...revealing a hidden lab.

_ Great. He plans on hiding me away so that the others won't be able to get in if they do get up here to rescue me and Ratchet. _ My scowling expression turned even more sour.

Shockwave placed the cylinder on what I guessed was probably an examination table, then removed his servo, giving me a better view of where I was. "I will be returning shortly."

I turned just in time to see Shockwave disappear through his hidden doorway, closing it behind him.

I snorted, then let the energy that I had been building up calm down a bit so that I could have a look around before trying to find a way out of my prison -- and the lab. I knew that I could use my World Jumper portal to slip out to another world and back into this one, but I didn't want to leave the other prisoner that Megatron had mentioned alone without any backup, and I didn't have my PokeDex on me, either, which meant that calling Chaos or any other Psychic to Teleport me out was out of the question.

The lab that Shockwave had left me in wasn't all that big -- just a small computer and what looked like a cabinet of some kind, then the examination table I was on.....

I heard something move behind me, and I turned to face the other side of the room. My eyes widened a moment later.

There was a mech lying strapped to another table -- probably medium height for a Cybertronian if he was standing upright, slim, and he was covered in yellow armor with black spots that almost looked like _fur._

"Hey!" I barked, hoping to get the mech's attention. "Are you awake?"

The mech's helm moved in response to my voice, and I saw an oddly blue face with _green_ optics, which widened as soon as they saw me. "Y-yeah. Who are you?"

"Maria," I replied. "And you?"

"Cheetor." The mech -- Cheetor, shifted a bit against his bonds. "What are you doing here?"

"Soundwave caught me, the moron." I growled. "Shockwave's been expressing interest in me, so he's probably planning on picking me apart. Like I'm going to let _that_ happen. And I'm going to get you out of here, too." I started charging up power again, increasing the heat inside the glass cylinder as I prepped to send out a White Flare blast. "Okay...let's see what happens when I do this! White Flare: 50 percent! Fire Blast!"

The resulting explosion of red-white flames churned and pushed against the glass as I forced the heat to rise. I hoped that increasing the heat _inside_ the container would result in it exploding -- or melt the glass, one of the two.

It didn't take me too long to find out which one it was that I was setting off.

**_ BOOM! _ **

Glass and metal were sent flying in all directions, and I quickly reabsorbed what fire I could before activating my hoverboard and flying over to Cheetor, activating my Buster as I went.

"Okay...Laserbeak did this to free Soundwave, so this should work." I aimed at one of the blue, glowing rings that was clamped down on Cheetor's legs, then fired a shot. The ring instantly fizzled out, and I was quick to follow up on the other blue rings.

"Wow!" Cheetor sat up and looked himself over, brushing off glass shards that had been blasted his way as he did so. "I didn't think that something as small as you could pack so much power! Thanks!"

"No problem." I looked around for a moment, wondering if Shockwave was going to come in, then looked back at the mech. "So, how'd you end up in here, Cheetor? Do you remember?"

The mech frowned at my question, his green optics flickering oddly. "Not really...the last thing that I remember is falling into a crevice when an earthquake hit. And there was so much Energon that I ended up going into stasis lock." Cheetor looked at me with a curious expression. "Why do you ask?"

My eyebrows shot up as my eyes widened. "Stasis lock? Y-you're sure?"

Cheetor nodded. "Yeah."

I was almost tempted to sit down, but then I remembered that I was still standing on my hoverboard. "Oh, my...that means...you're a Maximal."

"Yeah, that's right!" Cheetor nodded. "How'd you know?"

I paused as I tried to think of what I could say to the mech in order to get him up to speed quickly. "I can't say much because we're on a warship that belongs to the _wrong side,_ but here's the gist of it: it's been a _long_ time since you were last awake, and Cybertron is in the middle of a war between two factions called the Autobots and the Decepticons -- they transform into vehicles. All the Maximals and Predacons that were living on the planet are said to have been wiped out ever since some kind of cataclysm, and there's a Decepticon named Shockwave who has managed to clone a dead Predacon and basically revive him -- the one they call Predaking. One of my friends managed to find a Maximal in a cave full of Energon and woke him up out of stasis lock -- he said his name was Rhinox. He's back at the Autobot base now, and he wants to hunt down every single member of the Maximal team he was on."

"I was on that team!" Cheetor exclaimed, optics wide. Then he paused. "Wait. you said that we're on a warship that's on the wrong side?"

"An enemy warship -- for me, at least." I nodded. "It's Decepticon-owned. And Predaking's probably on board somewhere, too."

"Uh oh." Cheetor looked nervous at that. "So, what are we going to do?"

"We need to get out of here." I looked over at the hidden door. "Megatron -- the leader of the Decepticons -- mentioned that there was another prisoner on the ship. I'm thinking it's another Autobot, but I'm not entirely sure which one of my team members it is. Rhinox was in his beast form when I got taken, so Soundwave probably didn't think that a rhino was all that important."

"If they transform into vehicles, I guess not." Cheetor slipped off the table. "So, how are we going to get out of here?"

"That's the tricky part. This ship is up in the sky, which is going to make it _really_ difficult to get off safely unless we get them to land, and there are _a lot_ more Decepticons than there are Autobots -- most of them are just drones, but there's enough of them that they can overwhelm us easily." I paused. "Not to mention that the other Decepticons on the ship are going to be able to take us down pretty easily -- I mean, Megatron was a _gladiator._ He's going to be able to see most attacks coming and stop us in our tracks."

Before Cheetor could say anything in response to my statement, my head turned sharply in order to look over at the wall where I knew the hidden door was.

"What is it?" Cheetor asked, his tone quiet.

"I think there's someone out there," I muttered. I moved closer to the wall, straining my ears to see if I could hear what exactly it was that was going on. "...There's definitely someone in the room that this one is connected to. Which means we can't get out of here yet."

Cheetor groaned. "Great. And I was looking forward to just speeding out of here! I don't want to run into any Decepticons!"

"Shh!" I held up a hand in warning. "I want to see if I can figure out who it is that's on the other side."

I didn't look back to see how Cheetor responded, instead concentrating on the voices that were on the other side of the door. I moved over to the wall, careful to stay away from the hidden door in case it decided to open up with me being in front of it, and put my ear against the metal, frowning.

I couldn't make out what the voices were saying -- the metal walls made them so muffled that there was no way that I would have been able to figure it out -- but the faint tones of the voices were enough to tell me who it was that was on the other side.

I backed away from the wall and retreated back to Cheetor, speaking in a low voice in case they could hear us through the wall. "Okay, we've got three Cybertronians out there. Two Decepticons and an Autobot -- the other prisoner they were talking about."

Cheetor's optics widened. "Who is it?" He kept his voice low, too, probably sensing that I had a reason to.

"Ratchet -- our medic. And the two Decepticons are _their_ medic, Knock Out, and their head scientist, Shockwave." I looked back at the wall. "If they have Ratchet with them, they must be picking his brain for something that he knows that they want, but whatever it is, I'm not entirely sure. I know that they want to rebuild the Omega Lock, though...."

"Omega Lock? I haven't heard of anything like that before."

"It's basically something they're going to use to restore Cybertron to its former glory -- what it looked like before the war, I mean." I landed on the table, letting my hoverboard reconnect with my back. "The problem, though, is that Megatron might use it on Earth, too, which will completely wipe out _all_ organic life, which is the only kind of life that _lives_ down there."

Cheetor's optics were the size of dinner plates -- or whatever the Cybertronian equivalent was. "What?! But -- but then Rhinox will--"

"Exactly -- and the same goes for my family. But we're not going to be able to do anything now because Shockwave could probably take us _both_ out. He may be a scientist, but he's built like an elephant and transforms into a _tank._ "

Cheetor winced at the mental image. "S-so, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to have to wait for a chance to get out, and take it as soon as we see it." I paused. "You know, it might be a good idea if you got into your beast mode for a little bit. Autobots and Decepticons run on Energon, and they might leave the stuff lying around the ship. It might be a good idea to be careful."

Cheetor's optic ridges rose at that, and he started nodding quickly. "Oh! Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good idea."

I took a step back as Cheetor transformed down into the form of a four-legged, yellow cat with black spots. Then he looked up at me and somehow managed to grin.

I gave a nod. "Okay, good. Let's get over to where the door is -- I saw Shockwave close it, so all we gotta do is wait for it to open up, then get the jump on whoever's there." I stepped onto my hoverboard again and flew over to where I knew the hidden door was, stopping a short distance away from it. Cheetor followed after me, his paws making metallic clinking noises against the floor. "Or, we won't have to wait for someone to open the door, and we can just rush out on our own. It depends on what the door needs in order to open up."

"Okay." Cheetor looked up at me as he sat down underneath me. "So, what are we going to do?"

I frowned at the door, considering what we might or might not have to do in order to get the door open. "Well, either it identifies a specific heat signature, or we need to press a panel at Shockwave's --" I paused when I remembered that Shockwave had pressed a part of the wall with his gun arm when he had brought me in. "It's got to be a panel up here somewhere." I rose up a little and started pressing against the wall in certain places, looking for the sound of something snapping into place. I knew I was going to have to put a lot of strength into it, too, which meant that I couldn't just lean against the wall lazily, or else Cheetor and I would be waiting for Shockwave to--

_ Clunk. _

My train of thought halted, and I drifted back from the wall in surprise when I saw that I had managed to push a panel that was about as big around as Shockwave's gun into the wall.

As the door started to open seamlessly, though, there came a loud explosion on the other end.

"Guards!" someone with a harsh voice bellowed as smoke started to pour in -- Knock Out. "Help me extinguish this inferno before it scorches the project! And my finish!"

I heard another set of doors open as a red and white figure started to move past the door I had opened, only for him to stop short.

"Maria!" Ratchet hissed. "Come -- quickly!"

"Cheetor, stick close!" I said quickly, looking down at the Maximal.

"Right!"

The three of us barreled out of the lab and into the open hallway, Ratchet transforming into his vehicle mode as he went. He moved slowly enough at first so that Cheetor could jump on and climb onto his roof, then poured on the speed. I did the same in order to stay even with the medic.

"Maria, what is the meaning of this -- this--"

"His name is Cheetor," I said, knowing who it was that Ratchet was asking about. "He's a Maximal."

"Hi!" Cheetor greeted -- which was odd, considering that big cats like cheetahs don't have the ability to speak normally. "It's nice to meet you!"

Ratchet spluttered.

"There he is!"

I hedged a glance back behind us. "Ratchet, we've got Cons on our tail!"'

"I know!" Ratchet barked back in reply. "Hold them off!"

"You got it!" I flew down and landed on Ratchet's roof next to Cheetor, then formed a yellow-white sphere of fire between my hands. "White Flare: 25 Percent! Fire Spark!"

The orb went flying, slamming into the two Vehicons who were chasing after us and sending them into spasms as electricity coursed all over the place.

"Wow!" Cheetor looked at me with wide eyes. "Can you teach me to do that?"

"No can do." I shook my head. "This is one of my signature abilities." I looked down at the front of Ratchet's vehicle mode. "Do you have any idea where we're going?"

"I have an inkling! Now shut up and keep those Vehicons off my back!" Ratchet swerved around a corner, forcing me to grab at the edge of the roof in order to keep my balance. I saw Cheetor dig claws into the metal, getting a loud grumble from the medic in response.

"Uh, considering all the noise we're making, are we gonna get attention from the big bad Megatron guy?" Cheetor asked nervously.

"I'd suspect so," I replied, looking behind and in front of us. Then I stiffened as soon as I caught sight of the tall figure that was moving to block the hallway ahead of us. "And there he is! Cheetor, keep a tight grip on me!"

"Why?"

"Just do it!" I quickly gathered together as much power as I could. "Come on...come on...White Flare: 100 Percent!"

The explosion of pure white flames that erupted from me and slammed into Megatron were enough to catch the gladiator by surprise; Cheetor wrapped a front paw around one of my legs as the fiery tendrils from my attack wrapped themselves around Megatron's gun arm and dug in while others kept him from slamming a foot onto Ratchet's hood.

As soon as we had safely gotten past him -- at least, I hoped -- I released the attack as Ratchet turned a corner and Megatron disappeared from sight. Then I collapsed onto my hands and knees, breathing heavily.

"Okay...I won't be able to do anything for a while," I warned the medic.

"Wow...."

I looked over at Cheetor, and blinked in surprise when I noticed that his optics were practically _sparkling._

"That was incredible!" Cheetor exclaimed.

"You just...try to regain your strength," Ratchet said. It sounded like he was unsure of what exactly to say. "Hopefully, I'll be able to find someplace where we can hide for a moment and shut down their cloaking field so that Optimus can find us."

"Works for me." I gave a nod.

** Change in POV **

Megatron glared at the scorch marks that were left in his armor, and, snarling, contacted Shockwave. "That 'Reploid' has escaped, and she was somehow capable of restraining _me_. That should _not_ be possible, Shockwave."

_ ::Indeed not:: _ Shockwave replied. If he had been like any other mech, the scientist would have no doubt been surprised. _::How did she manage such a feat, if I may ask?::_

"Her control over fire is far more extensive than we were led to believe," Megatron snarled in reply. "I cannot help but wonder if Wildfire may have picked up some of her abilities, as well."

_ ::As we have her so-called 'partner' here, perhaps she will find a way to provide us with an answer. Considering that Maria claimed they have been partners for twelve Earth years:: _

"Indeed. Track her down and bring her to me alive. Perhaps it would be wise if we interrogated her before seeing if we can recreate her abilities."

_ ::Of course. Also, We have discovered that Ratchet has successfully given us a stable form of Synthetic Energon. It will not take me long to manufacture more:: _

"Excellent, Shockwave! Proceed immediately!" Megatron gained a shark-like grin. He would have his victory yet. Ratchet could be killed by his Vehicons now, and he wouldn't care, because the medic was of no use to him.

Or...he could herd Ratchet to the one mech who had expressed interest in killing the Autobot. Yesssssss......


	41. Chapter 41

** Maria's POV **

Unfortunately, we weren't quite lucky enough that we were able to steer clear of _all_ the Cybertronians who were out to kill us on the _Nemesis._

Ratchet drove through a corridor and came to a squealing stop, then managed to somehow shake us off before transforming and shutting the doors behind us. "There. That should keep the Decepticons from finding us."

I let out a sigh of relief from where I was sitting on the floor. "That's good." I rose to my feet, checking my armor for dents and still feeling a bit tired from the White Flare attack. "You doing okay, Cheetor?"

The Maximal nodded, lying down on the metal floor. "Yeah. That was pretty fast-paced, though! I didn't think I was going to get to see action like that so soon after waking up!"

"Grrrrrr....."

I blinked when I heard the snarling growl. "Uh...Ratchet?"

The medic didn't answer, prompting me to look up at him.

A moment later, I was on my hoverboard between Ratchet and one nasty-looking metal dragon mere moments before the dragon released a large blast of fire. "Flash Fire!"

I think Cheetor's jaw dropped when he saw me absorb the entire fire attack from the dragon, but that look was quickly changed for a more serious one. "Predacon!"

The dragon -- Predacon -- looked down at Cheetor and let out a screech before its head pulled back. The Predacon then transformed, becoming a tall, rather archaic-looking mech with yellow optics and a snarl on his face.

"Who dares rob me of my vengeance?" The Predacon snarled, glaring down at me.

My eyebrows went up. "Maria White, World Jumper. Or Dimension Crosser. Or Planet Hopper. I'm pretty partial to World Jumper, though."

Cheetor's optics got big as he stared at me in surprise.

The Predacon -- Predaking, probably -- snorted. "World Jumper? What sort of nonsense title is this?"

"It's mine." Fire licked at my shoulders; I had excess energy to burn, now, after absorbing Predaking's fire. "I travel to different worlds and help different people. Got a problem with that?"

"What I have a _problem_ with is that you are not letting me slay this Autobot for killing my brethren!"

"If you want to kill me, then go ahead!" Ratchet moved in front of me, catching me by surprise.

"Ratchet, what--"

"And then _keep_ avenging, all the way up to Megatron!" Ratchet rolled right over my words, causing my eyebrows to shoot up while Cheetor looked at us in confusion.

Predaking frowned. "What?"

"Your high and mighty leader wanted your Predacons exterminated!" Ratchet continued.

I quickly caught on to what he was saying, and I moved to hover above Ratchet's right shoulder as I spoke. "Yeah. He let us do his work for him by luring the team in."

"Nothing but a false claim to save your own Spark!" Predaking grabbed Ratchet by the front of his armor and swung him around and into a wall.

"You consider yourself an intelligent being, don't you?!" Ratchet rose to his feet, looking only a little scratched up.

Predaking gained an odd look at that.

"Then rise above your base instincts and _analyze the situation."_

"Optimus and the others went into Shockwave's lab that day looking for Energon," I spoke up. "The Decepticons had left a few carts of the stuff sitting outside the cave, and they thought there was a chance that there was more there. I know for a _fact_ that my friend Wildfire had _no idea_ Shockwave's lab was in that cave!"

"The coincidence barely seems plausible," Predaking snarled, looking between the two of us.

"Because it _wasn't_ a coincidence!" Ratchet responded.

"The Energon was clearly planted to get us lured in," I added.

"By Megatron," Ratchet finished.

Predaking frowned. _"Why_ would my liege wish to destroy us?"

"Having nearly been on the receiving end of your might, one theory springs to mind." Ratchet fixed his gaze on Predaking, unwavering. "Megatron fears you, and any like you."

"He sees you as competition for his leadership, and he's seeking to make sure that you don't sneak up on him and kill him, only to take his place," I added. "Human history and literature has many instances of this, and I don't doubt that the Cybertronians have written and seen things like this, as well. It only makes sense that Megatron would follow that pattern concerning you."

Predaking's optics widened at that, then narrowed quickly as he let out a dark snarl. _"Megatron...."_

"Don't let your anger go too far to your head," I warned. "Megatron is experienced in battle."

"I do not need advice from a tiny human!" Predaking barked at me in reply.

" _Reploid,"_ I corrected. "And I have faced experienced people in battle before. My advice? Try to give him something he won't be expecting. Blast him to ashes with your beast form, perhaps."

When Predaking leaned in to snarl at me, I raised my hands quickly and added, "It's just a suggestion! I'm not saying you should, I'm just saying it might be a good idea!"

Predaking snorted, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he turned and turned one his his hands into a gun, which he promptly fired at the door, blasting a large hole in it. Moments later, he was gone, roaring a battlecry.

"We should get moving, as well," Ratchet said quickly. "Predaking will only work as a distraction for the Decepticons for so long. We have to find a terminal and uncloak the ship -- hurry!"

With that, the medic jumped through the hole in the door, Cheetor and I following after him and climbing onto his vehicle mode again as we took off down the corridor.

"S-so, you're _really_ a Dimension Crosser?"

I looked over at Cheetor and laughed when I saw how big his eyes were. "Yup! Like I said, though, I'm more used to being called a World Jumper than anything else. I've gone for a while by that title."

"Wow! I didn't think I'd _ever_ get to meet one of your kind in person! I've got to be the luckiest mech in the universe right now!"

I laughed again. "Rhinox and the Autobots have you beat, you know -- they already know about it. Not to mention my family."

"W-well, still! When we find everybody else, they aren't going to believe it! Wow!"

Ratchet grumbled something about annoying younglings, making me snicker.

** Time Break **

It didn't take us very long to find a terminal that had access to the cloaking field -- and it was right along the path Predaking had probably taken, too, considering all the Vehicons that were lying all over the place.

Cheetor and I stood on the floor while Ratchet went to work on the terminal.

The Maximal saw the Energon that was pooling out of one of the Vehicons and shuddered. "I'm glad you said I should stay in beast form, Maria. The Energon radiation would probably be a nightmare on my systems."

"I figured it would be," I replied, nodding.

"Autobot base, do you read?" Ratchet asked, speaking quickly. "This is Ratchet -- can anyone hear me?"

_ ::Loud and clear, old friend!:: _ Optimus responded with a lot more emotion in his voice and I think that I've ever heard from him. It was followed pretty quickly by a number of cheers and calls of general happiness from everyone else.

"Listen to me," Ratchet practically hissed. "Megatron has managed to rebuild the Omega Lock _on board his warship._ I've deactivated the Decepticon shielding system. You should be able to get a fix on my coordinates."

I jumped when I heard the blaster fire coming from down the hall, and saw yellow and purple flashes -- Predaking's work, no doubt.

"Ratchet, hurry!" I called. "We probably don't have much time!"

Ratchet gave me a quick nod, then looked back at the computer. "Optimus, hurry! Megatron is preparing to cyberform Earth as we speak!"

"Ratchet!" I hissed as the shooting started up again.

Ratchet looked like he wanted to snarl something, then he glanced over in the direction Predaking had gone, before turning and running in the opposite direction. Cheetor and I followed after him.

"Now what?" Cheetor asked, running at a fast pace as I jumped onto my hoverboard again.

"Now we simply survive until Optimus and the others arrive," Ratchet replied in a grim tone. "Which, hopefully, will not be long."

"Hopefully," I agreed, nodding.

_ Beep! Beep! Beep! _

I instinctively reached for my left ear. "Hey, Wildfire."

_ ::Kid, your parents are just about ready to kill you -- and I am too!:: _

"Like it's my fault that I got nabbed!" I protested in reply. "I tried to stop Soundwave and he zapped me! I didn't let him grab me on purpose!"

_ ::...Maria, we figured it wasn't your fault. But you really should have been more careful. Now, nothing's missing?:: _

"Frankenstein didn't get a chance to dig into me and try to start tearing me apart," I replied. "And the same goes for Cheetor."

_ ::Cheetor?!:: _ I heard Rhinox gasp, then mutter something under his breath. _::Cheetor, can you hear me?::_

"Doc!" Cheetor was grinning. "Man, is it good to hear you!"

_ ::Ratchet, what is your present strategy?:: _ Optimus rumbled over the communication link.

"The Omega Lock's control station is located on the lower deck," Ratchet reported. "We are making our way there now."

_ ::Copy, Ratchet. We will rendezvous at the objective. Arcee, lead Stealth Team to secure the Omega Lock. Ultra Magnus, you and the Wreckers storm the bridge. Prevent the Decepticons from targeting the device if stealth team is delayed:: _

_ ::Optimus:: _ Arcee spoke up. _::If we fail to secure the Lock before it's ready to deploy, do we destroy it?::_

_ ::I do not intend to squander a second chance for Cybertron:: _ Optimus replied.

Ratchet made a noise that sounded a _lot_ like approval, and I couldn't help but grin at his reaction. The idea of having Cybrtron restored was definitely something that I could look forward to.

"So, where's the controls you were talking about?" Cheetor asked.

"I believe that they are this way." Ratchet turned and ran down another corridor, Cheetor and I right on his heels.

** Time Break **

Ratchet came to a stop at a corner, motioning for Cheetor and me to stop, as well.

"What is it?" I looked up at the medic curiously as he peered around the corner.

"The entrance to the control room is right within sight, but there are Vehicons blocking the way," Ratchet replied, glancing back at us. "I am going to go in there alone."

"What?!" Cheetor shook his head. "No way. That Shockwave guy could be in there!"

"He _is_ in there," Ratchet replied grimly. "And I am _not_ about to let you two in there, or else you may end up destroying the Omega Lock and everyone on this ship!"

I folded my arms across my chest, frowning. "Yeah...I guess that could happen, with me involved."

"It _would,"_ Ratchet corrected. "You go and join the Wreckers in storming the bridge or call a Ground Bridge back to base. Personally, I would prefer it if you did the latter, but I doubt that either one of you are going to listen to me at this point."

I snorted. "No way am I missing this!"

"Same here!" Cheetor agreed.

"Then _go find the bridge_ and seed as much chaos as you like into this ship!" With that, Ratchet ran around the corner, bringing out those blades of his and making quick work of the Vehicons who were standing guard.

"...The Autobot medic is a real bad-aft," Cheetor said in amazement.

"He is awesome," I agreed, mentally translating what Cheetor had said and deciding to never use those two words together...considering what the human equivalent was. "Come on -- let's go see if we can meet up with the other Autobots. I think I know where the bridge is, too, so we can find the Wreckers first."

"All right!"

It took us a while in order to actually _find_ the bridge. I knew at least a _little_ bit of my way around the _Nemesis,_ thanks to the time I spent on an alternate version of it, but the main problem was that all the corridors looked the same.

Not to mention the Vehicons who kept running into us and trying to stop us. Cheetor had to quickly transform a couple of times just so that we were able to take them out without having to just rely on my power.

And, all the while, I could hear the chatter going on through the comms, from Arcee's report that she was getting close to where Ratchet was to Wildfire's laughter as she knocked down one Vehicon after another.

And then...

_ ::Ultra Magnus to all units. We will be delayed; Soundwave pulled one of his relocation tricks:: _

_ ::Stupid Con::  _ Wildfire muttered.

I scowled at that. "Great; and we're so close to the Bridge, too." I came to a stop at a corner in the corridor, remembering that the last time I had been there, I had been with Optimus in another dimension -- back when he had partially lost his memory and thought he was Orion Pax. "That means we've got _Slenderman_ to deal with."

_ ::Don't worry, Maria:: _ Joshua replied. _::We've got you covered. Just head to the bridge; we'll meet you there::_

"We?" I repeated. But Joshua didn't give me an answer, making me frown a bit. "Well, all right then. I hope you've got a plan." I nodded to Cheetor. "Let's go."

Cheetor gave a nod in response, then took off down the corridor, moving around the knocked-down bodies of Vehicons. I followed after him.

We had just arrived at the bridge, catching the attention of even more Vehicons, just as a Ground Bridge opened...and Jack and Joshua stepped through.

I brought up my charging Buster and aimed at one of the four Vehicons, ready to fire.

"Surprise!" the two boys exclaimed...just as Miko came in, wearing the Apex Armor, and _riding_ on top of Rhinox.

I let loose my Charged Shot, taking out one of the Vehicons as Miko jumped up and landed on a second, with Rhinox ramming into a third.

"Pick on someone your own size!" Miko exclaimed cockily to the knocked-down Vehicon.

"Ha!" I grinned. "Nice one!"

The last Vehicon who remained standing tried to shoot Miko, but the blaster's shots had no effect, and the Con was simply thrown into the giant monitor that was at the front of the Bridge, barely missing Soundwave in the process.

Miko then ran for the communications Con himself, only for the Con to summon a Ground Bridge and start moving it towards her as she backed up.

"Raf, show time!" Jack called into his phone as Rhinox moved to stand next to me, Joshua, and Cheetor.

_ ::Are you sure about this, Jack?:: _ Raf asked worriedly. _::The last time we crossed the streams--::_

"Raf, now!" Jack barked in reply.

"Do not worry about us," Rhinox added.

I heard Raf swallow, and a moment later, a _second_ Ground Bridge appeared on the bridge.

I looked over at Joshua. "Just what are you planning?"

"Actually, this was Jack's idea," Joshua replied. "It's based off an experience that he and the others faced before."

"Gah!"

I turned my head sharply when I heard Jack's yelp, my eyebrows shooting up when I saw Miko nab Jack out the air, leaning against something. Then I noticed that the Ground Bridges almost seemed to have...inverted on themselves, with Soundwave in the middle.

There was a bright green flash...and Soundwave was gone.

"Enjoy the Shadowzone, dude!" Miko called out, smirking.

"Come on," Jack said. "We need to figure out how to navigate this thing."

As Miko ran up to the main controls of the bridge with Jack in tow, it took me a moment to remember where exactly I had heard the name "Shadowzone" before.

"Oh! You sent him to _that_ place!" I realized. "The one where you were probably between dimensions or something like that." I paused. "Then...that means he's still on the bridge?"

"And he can hear everything and see everything that we are about to do, but he is unable to touch us or do anything to hinder us," Joshua said. "It's an interesting place, and I wouldn't mind studying it, but that will have to wait until later."

"And you!" Rhionx whacked Cheetor's head with one of his feet, getting a whine from the feline. "Do you have any idea how much I've been worrying about you?!"

"Aw, come on, Rhinox!" Cheetor rubbed his head, wincing. "I was with the Dimension Crosser! I was fine!"

Rhinox huffed, looking angry, but then his eyes softened. "Still, you should be a little more careful about where you choose to take a _nap."_

Cheetor gave a nervous chuckle and was about to say something in response, but then the entire bridge tilted suddenly.

"Whoa!" I jumped on my hoverboard and raised myself up so that I wouldn't get trampled by the others as the bridge righted itself.

"Dude, where did you learn to drive?!" Miko demanded.

I looked up, just in time to see Jack press another button, making the bridge tilt again.

"Rock the boat!" I chirped.

"That's the idea!" Jack replied. He stumbled a bit on the dashboard of the monitor he was standing in front of, causing the huge monitor on the front of the bridge to suddenly light up and turn into what I guessed was a top-down view of the Omega Lock...which looked like a gigantic circle filled with some odd-looking blue-white, watery goo.

"It looks like Optimus is fighting King Con!" Miko pointed at one part of the monitor, showing where a red blob was fighting a purple-and-silver one.

I flew up to the front of the bridge, the others close behind. "Good! I hope Optimus really rips him a new one!"

Then I got an odd feeling in my gut...and everything suddenly took a different turn.

Bumblebee suddenly leapt out into the air above the Omega Lock, carrying the Star Saber of all things...and Megatron reacted.

Three shots from the Con's cannon. And they all hit their mark.

I saw the light in Bee's eyes _die_ mere moments before he disappeared into the goo, sinking into it and disappearing from sight as the Star Saber fell onto the metal ring of the Omega Lock.

"Oh, no...." Jack sounded shaken.

"Bee!" Miko practically shrieked.

I clenched my fists as my eyes narrowed. _"Megatron."_

Optimus had basically the same reaction, because the red on the monitor suddenly went into a frenzy, hitting Megatron over and over again with punches and kicks. I'm pretty sure that I gained a demonic grin when I saw Megatron getting pushed around like he was.

But that smirk faded pretty quickly when I saw what looked like a dark purple slash of energy push Optimus back and over the edge of the Omega Lock.

"No!" I gained a snarling expression. "Why that--"

"Wait."

I turned and looked back at Joshua, seeing him come up to the bridge with the others. When he raised a finger and pointed at the monitor, I followed his gaze...and my eyes widened.

_ Bumblebee _ was climbing out of the goo!

My jaw dropped. "Bee? But -- but--"

"I hope he isn't a zombiecon," Miko muttered as we watched Bee pick up the Star Saber. He then quickly moved over to where Megatron was bringing a purple sword up over his head.

_ ::Megatron!:: _

I'm pretty sure that, if I had been human, I would have had a heart attack when I heard the unfamiliar voice mere seconds before Bumblebee stabbed the Star Saber _straight through_ Megatron's chest.

_ ::You took my voice:: _ Bumblebee said. _::You will never rob anything of anyone ever again::_

My jaw dropped as I saw Megatron try to raise his purple sword and bring it down on Bumblebee, but it slipped out of his grip and fell to the planet below. Then he dropped to his knees.

A warning came up on the monitor mere seconds later: _Warning! Lord Megatron's Spark Signature cannot be located!_

I sucked in a breath sharply as the others on the bridge gasped, watching as Megatron fell off the edge of the Omega Lock and down to the planet below.

"Whoa...." I blinked somewhat owlishly as Bumblebee helped Optimus up. "Megatron...he's...."

"Dead," Joshua said, bluntly. But there was a tone of awe in his voice, too.

I heard voices coming from the back of the bridge, and I turned to see who was coming. A wide grin appeared on my face a moment later when I saw that Wildfire was walking into the bridge, blaster at the ready. Then she saw us and relaxed, grinning.

"Well, well, I didn't think that you guys were up here," she remarked. "Nice job taking the bridge."

Miko gave a laugh. "It was easy! And Soundwave's stuck in the Shadowzone now, too!"

"Really?" Bulkhead poked his head in. "How'd you manage that?"

"We got Raf to cross the streams," Jack explained. "He's still back in the base with Jolt, Coil, and the others."

_ ::Bumblebee!:: _ Ratchet said in amazement, causing us to look back at the monitor.

_ ::Your voice:: _ Arcee spoke up.

_ ::My voice?:: _ Bumblebee repeated, confused. _::What are you -- my voice! Ratchet, I have my pipes back!::_

Ratchet gave a laugh. _::Yes, yes, we noticed!::_

_ ::The cybermatter....:: _

_ ::It is the only possible explanation:: _

"Bee!" I yelled over the comms. "You had us really worried up here, you know! We watched the whole thing from up on the bridge! Don't scare us like that!"

Bumblebee gave a nervous laugh. _::Sorry about that, Maria::_

_ ::It would seem that the old field medic made good after all:: _ Optimus rumbled. Then he spoke through the more public channel that went to the base, too. _::Optimus Prime to all units: Megatron is no more::_

_ ::Yes!:: _ Fowler exclaimed.

"Sounds like we missed a lot," Wheeljack noted as he came up to the front of the bridge to join us. He looked down at Cheetor for a moment before looking back at Miko. "Nice job taking the bridge there, kiddo."

Miko laughed in response as Ultra Magnus, Shape-Change, and Sparkseer stepped into the bridge.

_ ::Wreckers, a job well done securing the bridge:: _ Optimus added.

"It wasn't us, sir," Ultra Magnus replied. "The credit belongs to the humans, Maximals, and Reploids."

"Hoo ya!" Miko threw up the "rock on" sign, grinning.

I snickered at Miko's reaction. "If it wasn't for Jack's idea, I think we would have had a much harder time taking them out. Considering that Soundwave's in that Shadowzone, now." I looked over at the Autobots. "So, what's going to happen now?"

"Now?" Wildfire grinned. "We own this ship. We might as well put it to good use!"

_ ::The Omega Lock is now under our control:: _ Ratchet agreed. _::And we will definitely be putting that to good use::_

_ ::Agreed, old friend:: _ Optimus replied. _::Ultra Magnus, set course for Cybertron!::_

_ ::Raf!:: _ Bumblebee called. _::If you can tear yourself away from your laptop for two seconds, bridge yourself and the others up here so that we can get to Cybertron already!::_

_ ::Wait, who's that?:: _ Fowler asked in confusion.

_ ::...Bee?:: _ Raf asked hopefully.

_ ::Yup!:: _ Bee laughed. _::Come on, guys! We don't have all day, you know!::_


	42. Chapter 42

** Maria's POV **

It felt a little weird to be traveling to Cybertron in a space ship through a Bridge, but that's what we ended up doing. And, after Wheeljack had adjusted the controls of the bridge, we found that we were able to get a good view of Cybertron.

My eyebrows came together when I saw the planet's state. "Man, that looks...dead."

"Indeed," Sparkseer agreed. "Of course, we are going to be changing that shortly."

"Indeed." Ultra Magnus nodded. "Optimus, where is it that we are going to be firing the Omega Lock?"

_ ::Into the Well of AllSparks, and directly into Cybertron's core:: _

My eyes widened at that. "Is that safe?"

_ ::It's the most logical place to fire it, considering that we only have so much cybermatter to use:: _ Ratchet said reluctantly. _::Although, I do feel some concern over the fact that we will be sending the cybermatter directly into Primus' Spark::_

"Well, I hope that Primus doesn't mind," Raf commented, adjusting his glasses.

"I don't think he will," Jolt replied.

"Considering that we're waking him up," Shape-Change added. "Definitely not."

As we came down to the planet's surface, I noticed that an alert came up on one corner of the large monitor.

Wheeljack snorted. "Looks like we've got a couple of runaways. We've got Cons bailing on us."

"We'll just have to hunt 'em down and smash 'em, then!" Miko declared, grinning widely.

"Cybertron's a big planet, though," First Aid said, worried. "It's going to take some time for us to find them."

"We've got other things to worry about first, though." Wheeljack flipped through the monitor's different views as we flew over the planet's surface. "Like this. Commander, we've arrived at the Well of AllSparks." He settled on the view of the Omega Lock, lining it up with a large hole that was located on Cybertron's surface.

A loud humming noise filled the air a moment later as the Omega Lock fired down into the well. I could feel the _Nemesis_ jolt a little as all of the cybermatter went flying straight into Cybertron.

At first, there was nothing. But then, slowly at first, a blue glow started to come up from the Well.

Wheeljack quickly switched the monitor's views, bringing up what was in front of the _Nemesis_ as the glow spread quickly.

"Wow...." A grin spread across my face.

"Ah, such luster!"

I frowned when I heard a voice that I hadn't expected to hear on the bridge, and I turned at the same time that the others did...to face Knock Out.

"What?" Knock Out seemed indifferent to the glares he was getting. "I'm joining the winning team!"

He didn't even notice Miko ram into him, knocking him out cold.

I snickered and gave Miko a thumbs-up. "Nice one!"

Miko smirked in response, but that got quickly wiped off her face when a screeching noise resounded. I quickly turned in order to see where it was coming from and was nearly blinded by a rising sun.

I wasn't blinded enough that I didn't notice the flapping wings of a very familiar Cybertronian.

"The Predacon," Ultra Magnus identified.

"I guess he's still alive," I muttered. "I was starting to wonder about him."

Wildfire snorted. "What I'm wondering is where that sun came from. We didn't exactly have one before, last I checked."

"I'd guess that the planet found one when we weren't there," Jolt replied, smiling a little.

Wildfire grunted in response, then smirked. "Yeah, I guess so."

Unfortunately, we weren't able to land and get a good look around Cybertron; because this Cybertron didn't have any oxygen, we would have risked suffocating Jack, Raf, and Miko. So, we returned back to Earth and our base there in order to fill in Fowler and the others about what had happened....

And, there was something else that needed to be done that I wasn't looking forward to.

"Though our home world is once again capable of supporting life," Optimus said, "we have much rebuilding to do. Alas, we will miss our home away from home, and the family we've made here." He turned his attention away from the rest of the Autobots Maximals and looked down at us -- me, Joshua, Matthew, Liz, Collin, Mom, Dad, Khrista, Jack, Raf, Miko, Agent Fowler, and Nurse Darby.

"If Cons are still out there, won't Earth be on their radar?" Raf pointed out.

Bumblebee was the one to respond. "Raf, if you ever need me -- need us -- for any reason, we're just a Space Bridge away."

"Besides, we'll be in good hands with you, Jack, Miko, and Maria's little World Jumping troupe hanging around and serving Unit: E," Fowler added. "You know, in a semi-official capacity."

"We're _agents?"_ Miko asked in amazement.

_ "Consultants," _ Nurse Darby corrected.

"Until you're of age," Mom added.

Matthew gained a wide grin while Liz, Collin, and I gave him sour looks. "That means _I_ can start training if I want to."

I snorted. "Yeah, yeah." I paused, then grinned. "You know, if I take in how many years I was on Neo-Mobius into account, I could technically do that, too."

"You're a World Jumper, kiddo," Dad replied. "You've already got a job."

I gave him a sour look. "Well, I can still help out when I'm home!"

"Of course," Fowler responded. "And we'd appreciate all the help we can get!"

"I trust that Unit: E doesn't have any rules forbidding the enlistment of rusty old _Autobot_ consultants," Ratchet spoke up, smirking.

"Ratchet?" Arcee asked in surprise.

"You're thinking of sticking around?" I asked, blinking.

"I know where I am needed," Ratchet replied.

Wildfire looked over at Sparkseer. "What do you think? If we head out, we're going to be leaving part of the team here."

Sparkseer inclined his head. "Indeed we would be. Although, two of our human members would be able to come with us or travel back and forth, if they so desired."

"I think I'm going to stay on Earth for a little while longer," Jolt said. "Joshua and I do have our lab, and we promised Rhinox that we'd help him look for the other members of his team."

"We will come up and assist you if you need it, though," Joshua added.

"I wanna stay, too!" Coil spoke up. "I don't want to leave my big brother alone!"

Jolt smiled and rubbed the little mech's head. "Thanks, Coil."

** Time Break **

It took a few hours for everyone to settle on who was going, who was staying, and who was going to travel back and forth pretty frequently.

I sighed, leaning against a wall of the hanger as I watched Wheeljack pick up his lob ball. "Are you sure about this, Wildfire? I mean...you're not gonna be able to follow me around to the different worlds I go to anymore."

"I'm pretty sure that I probably couldn't anymore anyway, since I'm not in your head." Wildfire gave a small chuckle, then looked across the hanger at everyone else, going through their good-byes with the others. "I'll make sure to keep in touch and stop by sometimes, kid, but...Cybertron's my home as much as Earth is yours. And I don't think I'm going to be of much help hanging around here all the time. Besides, who knows what's waiting on Cybertron's surface?"

"I can come and visit you sometimes, right?" I asked.

"Well, yeah, I don't see why not." Wildfire smirked. "And when we get Cybertron put back together properly again, I get the feeling that you're really going to like it. Your parents, too, if Fowler's willing to get 'em space suits."

I grinned. "I don't think he'd say no to that." My grin faded a little. "Y'know, I kinda wish you guys didn't have to fight this war as secretly as you did."

"You mean, leave the rest of the planet in the dark about the fact that there are aliens?" Wildfire snorted. "That'd have caused mass panic; you know that. Maybe sometime in the future, we can figure things out properly." She winked at me. "Maybe we can make you one of our ambassadors then; how's that sound?"

I snickered. "That _would_ be pretty cool."

I heard the sound of the Ground Bridge powering up, and I looked over to see Ratchet and Optimus shaking hands -- their own good-bye, no doubt.

"Well, looks like I've got to get going." Wildfire looked down at me. "If you ever want to visit, make sure you let us know, okay?" She grinned. "Then I can show you around and maybe you can help us out a little."

I nodded, feeling a little subdued at Wildfire leaving. "I've been used to you being in my head and hanging around me for twelve years...it's going to take some getting used to, you not being around all the time."

"Yeah, same here." Wildfire gave a nod. "Take care of yourself, all right? I'm not going to be able to be around all the time to make sure you don't get yourself killed."

I ducked my head at that, and when I looked up, Wildfire was walking through the Bridge, disappearing from sight alongside Sparkseer, First Aid, and Shape-Change.

Optimus walked up to the Bridge then, and paused, turning around to look at all of us. He looked over each of us in turn, then gave a nod and turned, walking into the Bridge...and disappearing from sight.

Ratchet waited a moment before he shut down the Ground Bridge and turned to look at the rest of us. He let out a sigh. "Well, Agent Fowler, is there anything that needs to be taken care of?"

Agent Fowler instantly snapped into business mode. "We're just going to be cleaning up the mess the Cons left behind for now; maybe looking for those other Maximals that need to be found along the way."

"Which means that we are going to need to look into every single mine that the Decepticons had access to," Ratchet finished. "Luckily, I managed to download the list before we returned here, so we have a place to start."

"Excellent," Joshua said. "I'll finish fine-tuning my instruments and get started on searching for them tomorrow. It shouldn't take us too long in order to take care of that." He paused. "Maria, it might be a good idea if you came with us, as well."

I blinked at that. "Me? Why?"

"I don't think the Vehicons that are guarding the Energon mines know that the Decepticons have pretty much been disbanded, considering that Soundwave is in the Shadowzone, Knock Out has been captured, Starscream and Shockwave are nowhere to be found, Predaking has fled, and Megatron was -- apparently -- practically sliced in two." Joshua looked a little amused for a moment. "Jolt and I could use the backup, since we can't ask the Maximals because of the Energon radiation."

I blinked again, then gained a wide grin. "Sure. I don't see why not. It'll definitely make up for not being able to take on the Cons when we were actually fighting the war."

"I thought you might see it that way." Joshua gained a knowing smirk, then turned to look at the others. "Is there anything else you're going to want taken care of, Agent Fowler?"

The man blinked for a moment before shaking his head. "Other than cleaning up after the Decepticons, nothing else yet. I'll have to see what my superiors have to say needs to be taken care of."

Miko gained a sour look of disappointment, muttering something under her breath that made Liz look at her with a surprised expression.

Ratchet snorted. "Considering that the Decepticons will be unable to get reinforcements at this point in time, as most of them were on the _Nemesis,_ you might be all right with just going in by yourselves. However, I will come along with you for the first few runs, just to ensure that you don't get yourselves critically injured."

"Thanks, Ratch," I replied, smirking.

Ratchet snorted again, then turned back to face the monitor. "Now that I've managed to complete the Synthetic Energon formula, we can use it to supplement our natural Energon supplies if we find that we have need of it. Considering that we now know the locations of the various Energon mines that the Decepticons were able to locate, I hope that I will not have very much use for it in the future. However, if we are forced to, it is at our disposal."

"The equipment the Decepticons used should still be in their mines for the most part," Jolt added. "We should be able to use it, and if it isn't operational, Joshua and I can make sure that they're put back together the right way."

"Yes, your abilities with those machines will be most useful," Ratchet agreed. "And I believe the humans will be expecting your help just as much as the Maximals will be."

"We can be patient when it comes to finding our comrades," Rhinox said. He shot Cheetor a look, causing the other Maximal to duck his head. "Especially considering that it will take some time before Cybertron is fixed properly, as you have said that it has been ravaged by war. No doubt there are Energon deposits that are being exposed to the air as we speak, making it difficult for us to be able to survive there." He paused, then looked back at Ratchet. "Also, living on Cybertron is going to be difficult for those of us who are going to be found and awakened here. It's more than likely that we will end up hiding on this planet in plain sight, as you have, but in different environments."

"Wait, wait, hold on." Fowler shook his head. "Are you saying that you Maximals _can't_ live on Cybertron?"

"Well, it'd be pretty hard now, since there's so much Energon," Cheetor admitted. "Besides, I kinda like Earth."

Fowler let out a groan. "I guess that means we'll have to keep an eye on _you_ now. And here I thought that I was out of the babysitting job...."

I chuckled. "Relax, Fowler -- the Maximals aren't fighting in a war."

"Indeed we are not," Rhinox agreed. "And I hope that we will never have to."


	43. Chapter 43

** Maria's POV **

"White Flare: Fire Spark!"

_ Bam! _

The Vehicon my attack hit toppled over, sparks flying from its armor as I flew over him at high speed, grinning as I was finally, _finally_ able to release my energy on some unsuspecting Vehicons.

True, I had to be careful about how much energy I released because we were in an Energon mine, and the Autobots had chopped off the head of the Decepticons, so to speak, but it still felt good to be able to knock them all down a peg.

"How much further to that Spark, Joshua?" I called out as I started charging up a Buster shot for the Vehicon that was gunning down on me.

"Not far!" Joshua called back.

"I hope so! Because I don't want to go to the deepest point of the mine like we had to in order to get that rabbit!"

It'd been about a week since the battle on the _Nemesis._ Wildfire had only checked in with me once during that time, just to make sure that we were doing all right and that I hadn't gotten myself into any trouble on any other worlds. She told me that they were keeping Knock Out and any other Decepticon-minded Vehicons in the brig on the _Nemesis_ , and that they _had_ been a little annoying, but nothing they couldn't handle.

She _also_ said that Bumblebee had been officially promoted to Warrior Class -- a step up from when he had been a scout -- and that Optimus had gone off with Wheeljack in order to retrieve the AllSpark so that they could have new Cybertronians running around. So far, they hadn't heard back from them.

I sent the Charged Shot at a Vehicon, sending the Cybertronian stumbling against a wall before Jolt slammed into him, sending the mech flying. "This way!"

I changed the course I had been taking on my hoverboard and followed after Jolt, who happened to be carrying Joshua on a standing platform attached as a harness to Jolt's back. I started charging up another attack, expecting more Vehicons to come at us with their bad aim. A moment later, though, I lowered my arm and relaxed my charging energy when I noticed that there weren't any ahead of us.

Instead, there was a figure lying in a small hollow on the cave floor -- clearly Cybertronian, but with some animal-like features.

"Looks like we've got another rodent," I commented, eyeing the whiskers that were on the mech's face. "What do you think he turns into?"

"We'll find out when we get back to base and have Rhinox wake him up from stasis lock," Joshua replied as Jolt carefully picked up the Maximal.

"This guy could pass as a Mini-Con," Jolt said, amazed. Then he reached for his comm. "Ratchet? We found him."

_ ::About time:: _ Ratchet muttered in reply. His voice was laced with static, though, making him a little hard to hear. _::Get back within Ground Bridge range, all three of you::_

"You sound a little tense, Ratch," I noticed, frowning. "What's going on?"

_ ::Something's happening on Cybertron is what's going on! I need to get up there, and something tells me that you three are going to want to come along:: _

"Definitely!" I replied instantly. Something was up on Cybertron? Of course I wanted to check it out!

And I knew I could handle it, too -- Joshua had already confirmed that when he and Jolt had gone up there themselves to adjust some wires on the _Nemesis'_ bridge, which definitely didn't have any oxygen on it anymore.

"We'll be at the entrance in about two minutes," Joshua said. Jolt nodded in agreement and started back towards the entrance of the Energon mine. I followed after them, picking up the speed of my hoverboard as Jolt picked up his pace.

_ ::Hurry!:: _ Ratchet snapped.

By the time we got out of the mine, the Ground Bridge was already open and waiting for us. We dashed through and emerged in the hanger.

"What's going on on Cybertron?" I asked as Jolt moved over to the medbay of the hanger and handed off the Maximal to Rhinox. I heard him let out a gasp and groan something about a "rat trap."

"It seems that Ultra Magnus managed to get himself injured fighting a pair of Predacons with Smokescreen," Ratchet replied as he quickly changed the Bridge's coordinates. "First Aid is going to need my assistance in order to fix the internal damage that resulted. And, Wildfire specifically requested that you, Joshua, and Jolt all come up in order to see if there was anything that could be done in order to stop the Predacons and whatever Shockwave and Starscream might be planning."

"Shockwave?!" Jolt looked over at Ratchet sharply as he charged up the Ground Bridge. "He's _still_ running around?!"

"Apparently." Ratchet activated the Bridge and turned to look at the rest of us. "Are you going to come with me or not?"

"Yes!" I responded instantly.

"If Shockwave is up to something, it might be a good idea to do what we can in order to stop it," Joshua agreed. He looked at Jolt. "If he does show his face, know that we will be able to fight for you."

Jolt gave a shaky nod in response. "Y-yeah. You're right." He looked over at Ratchet. "Let's get going."

Ratchet nodded. "Rhinox, close the Bridge behind us!" Then the medic went through, followed shortly by Joshua, Jolt, and me.

"Where's the patient?" Ratchet demanded as we came out on the other side.

I blinked and looked around, noticing that we were on the _Nemesis_ again, and that Smokescreen and Arcee were the ones who were there to greet us.

"H-he's in the medbay," Smokescreen said. He motioned for Ratchet to follow, then turned and moved quickly out of the room.

"What's going on?" I asked Arcee, moving my hoverboard so that I was right in front of the Autobot. "Ratchet said something about Predacons attacking Magnus and Smokescreen?"

"I'll explain when we get to the medbay," Arcee replied. "Come on."

** Time Break **

"Ultra Magnus is suffering from a multitude of internal injuries," Ratchet commented, looking over the scan on the monitor. "Most of them are quite severe."

"So, anyone care to explain as to what two more Predacons are doing on Cybertron?" Arcee asked casually.

"I thought Optimus said new life wasn't possible without the AllSpark," Bulkhead commented.

"It shouldn't be," Jolt replied. "Which means there's only...one other source...that could be creating these Predacons."

"Something tells me cloning old bones doesn't constitute new life," Bumblebee agreed, nodding.

"Which means that Shockwave's up to something," I muttered, frowning.

"He's been playing in his lab since the war," Bulkhead commented.

"Before it, even," Jolt spoke up. "He probably doesn't think that he has a reason to stop now."

"It doesn't matter where those beasts came from!" Smokescreen declared shortly. "We've gotta take 'em down!"

I saw the anger in his optics and winced a little; he was probably mad at them for having taken out Magnus, and he was certainly planning his revenge.

"If Shockwave's back in business, there could be more of them," Bumblebee pointed out.

"A lot more," Joshua agreed.

"We need to call Optimus," Bulkhead said.

"Really, Bulk?" Arcee replied dryly. "And interrupt his quest to save the future of our race on Cybertron?"

"Arcee does bring up an important point."

I looked over at where First Aid was standing next to the monitor.

"I mean, the AllSpark is just as important for us to be able to live as Cybertron being livable is." She paused. "We're going to have to do this by ourselves. Without him."

"Which means that we're going to have to start looking for leads on where Shockwave could possibly be," I added.

Jolt held up his servos. "You can count me _out_ of _that_ search." He looked around. "I think I'll see if there's anything hiding on the _Nemesis_ that we might be able to use -- I know you guys have probably combed this thing already pretty thoroughly, but I'd like to see if there's anything for myself."

"I'll remain with Jolt for now," Joshua added. "I don't know if I'm going to be of much help to you out in the field like Maria is."

I gave a nod at that. "So, any ideas as to where we should start looking?"

Bumblebee looked thoughtful. "Well, if they're Predacons, Predaking might know something. Maybe we should go see him."

"Do we even know where he is?" Arcee asked, frowning.

"And isn't it a little dangerous to even go _looking_ for the guy?" Bulkhead added.

"Wildfire and Sparkseer found him a couple days ago," Bumblebee replied. "I think he'll be willing to hold an audience with them and me."

"Can I go, too?" I asked. "I mean, Ratchet and I were the ones who pointed out to him that Megatron was the one who orchestrated the whole 'destroy Shockwave's lab' thing back on Earth. Maybe he'll be willing to lend an ear."

"Maybe." Bumblebee wagged a finger in my direction. "But at the first sign of danger, I want you to get to safety and leave the fighting to us. Predaking was dangerous enough back when he was just a beast."

I nodded, remembering the carnage Predaking had left behind on the _Nemesis._ "All right. But if you need me to, I will still launch long-range attacks at him."

Arcee snorted. "Wildfire's right; you really _do_ go looking for trouble."

"Hey! Usually, I don't go looking for _it; it_ finds _me._ " I folded my arms across my chest, frowning. "So, where's Predaking hiding out?"

"Let me set up a Ground Bridge to where Wildfire and Sparkseer are first," Bumblebee replied. "Then we can see for ourselves."

** Time Break **

I flew out of the Ground Bridge and was instantly plucked out of the air by Wildfire, who grabbed my hoverboard with her other servo.

"Hey!" I pushed against the digits that were clamped around my waist. "Do you mind?"

Wildfire chuckled at my reaction, then gave me back my hoverboard and let me step on. "How've you been doing, kid?"

"Well enough. We've managed to find two Maximals in the last week -- one's a rabbit named Stampy, and we just found a rodent of some kind when you called us in." I looked around at the barren landscape of the metal planet. "Well, this place looks a lot better than that alternate Cybertron did, that's for sure."

"I know." Wildfire gained a more serious expression. "The landscape is still rather torn up, though."

"So, Predaking's out here somewhere?" Bumblebee looked around, curious.

"Indeed," Sparkseer replied. "He's over this way. I'd suggest that you watch your step."

Sparkseer led Wildfire, Bumblebee, and me down a torn up part of the landscape; he and Wildfire were a lot more sure in their footing than Bumblebee was, making me think that they'd probably been out here a few times already.

Then we reached the base of the rather torn-up ramp, and Sparkseer paused.

"Do you see this?" He motioned to something that was at his feet. I lowered my hoverboard's height so that I could get a closer look.

"Looks like Energon," I announced.

"Spilled Energon," Bumblebee added. "It looks like someone's been wounded."

"Yeah." Wildfire gave a curt nod. "From what we can tell, Predaking's been hanging out here like some injured Earth animal. That means he's going to be cranky and definitely won't want to talk to us, even if we aren't the ones who injured him."

"Still, there's a chance that he will, right?" I asked, looking up at her.

"Maybe. We'll have to see if he's in a talking mood." Wildfire nodded over to a short cliff that was ahead of us.

Bumblebee turned his helm to follow her gaze, then started moving forward. The three of us followed after him.

"Your Highness?" Bumblebee called. "Predaking?"

_ Screee! _

The Predacon appeared on top of the cliff, flaring his wings and baring his fangs. I saw an orange glow appear in his chest, and he started to rear back his head.

I was in front of Bumblebee in an instant, arms spread wide as Predaking fired. "Flash Fire!" I absorbed the flames in an instant, excess energy burning away on my shoulders like little torches for a moment before dissipating.

Predaking's head reared back in surprise.

"We didn't come here to fight, Predaking!" I called. "We came here to talk!"

The Predacon looked down at me, his yellow optics narrowing for a moment before he transformed into his more humanoid form.

"What is your reason for violating my refuge, Autobot and World Jumper?" Predaking snarled, glaring down at us from his perch.

"We need answers," Bumblebee replied. "Do you know of any other Predacons currently on Cybertron?"

"Indeed," Predaking replied. "Legions of them." He made a wide motion behind him. "Behold, my subjects -- a countless multitude."

I rose up on my hoverboard in order to get a good look at what Predaking was motioning to, and I winced.

"Rendered extinct ages ago by the Great Cataclysm, unearthed during the shifting of plates by our planet's restoration," Predaking continued as I looked over the large numbers of Predacon bones that were lying on the surface of the planet.

I lowered myself back to where I had previously been, wincing.

"I am afraid that isn't entirely the case anymore, You Highness," Sparkseer spoke up as he stepped forward. "Two of our own were attacked by two living Predacons recently. One has been heavily damaged."

Predaking's optics widened -- and brightened. "Two? Where?"

"At this point, we're not sure," I replied. "Smokescreen fled the battle site with the injured Ultra Magnus in tow. Even if we were to go back there, I doubt that the Predacons would have remained there for long."

"We would like to ask your help in finding them," Bumblebee added.

Predaking's optics narrowed again. "For revenge?"

Bumblebee shook his head. "No. Optimus Prime would deem it a tragedy to stain Cybertron's fresh soil with any spilled Energon."

Predaking's gaze moved to Sparkseer. "Does he speak the truth, Spark Reader?"

I looked back at Sparkseer in surprise as the mech blinked before nodding. "He does."

"So help us prove what Megatron was never willing to," Bumblebee added. "That more than one race can fully coexist on our planet."

Predaking seemed to consider that for a moment, then snorted. "You assume that because I turned against Megatron that I can forgive the Autobots their role in the destruction of my brethren on Earth? Leave me be, and dare not trespass here again."

I bit my lower lip, wondering if I could say anything in order to get Predaking to consider otherwise, but then I saw Wildfire shake her head at me from out of the corner of my eye, and my shoulders sagged as I nodded in response.

After we had beaten a retreat a short distance, I looked back at the cliff where Predaking had been standing. "He was definitely cranky, all right." I looked at Wildfire. "What are we going to do now?"

"Now? We poke Knock Out for information." She gave me a sinister grin. "I've been looking forward to ruining that pompous mech's finish for a _long_ time."

Bumblebee let out a nervous chuckle. "Actually, you won't have to do that. I sent Shape-Change to check something out after Knock Out told me something; she should be reporting back to the _Nemesis_ soon on whether or not 'Narcissus' was speaking the truth."

Wildfire scowled a bit while I chuckled at Bumblebee's use of Knock Out's Autobot-given nickname.

"Has Knock Out finally given us a hint as to where Shockwave could be hiding?" Sparkseer asked.

"Maybe. We'll have to see if his suggestion to go to Darkmount is a good idea or not."

My eyebrows shot up at the name Bumblebee said. "Darkmount?"

"Megatron's original base here," Wildfire explained. She snorted. "I think Shockwave used the lower half of it for those experiments of his. We're going to have to be careful if we do have to head over there."

I frowned. "Well, great. I hope none of them have decided to run completely rampant...."

"Ratchet? We're going to need a Ground Bridge. Has SC come back yet?" Bumblebee paused, then his expression brightened. "Great!" He turned and looked at the rest of us. "Shape-Change is back, and she said she's got some news on Knock Out's lead."

"Great." Wildfire grinned. "Let's go and find out whether that medic tried to send us on a wild goose chase."


	44. Chapter 44

** Maria's POV **

It turned out that Knock Out was _not_ trying to send us on a wild goose chase, and was actually deciding to play nice for once.

So, Bumblebee, Smokescreen, Shape-Change, Wildfire, Arcee, and I ended up making the trip to what used to be Megatron's side of the planet.

"What makes you think we're going to find Shockwave's cloning lab here?" Arcee asked.

"...yeah, wasn't Darkmount Megatron's military HQ?" Smokescreen asked.

"It wasn't just that," Shape-Change replied. "After most of us left the planet, Shockwave apparently turned it into a lab of his own so that he could experiment with those who were left behind. I have reason to believe that there might be some Cybertronians who are still trapped inside."

"How do you know?" I asked, my head poking out the open window of Wildfire's passenger side.

"I could hear shouting coming from inside the tower." Shape-Change paused. "Maria, I'd like you and Wildfire to come with me and free what prisoners we can. Some of the yells that came from below sounded familiar."

I blinked at that. "Uh...sure, I guess?"

"And if what Knock Out said is accurate," Bumblebee added, "I'll be able to find a map of Shockwave's lab network in the citadel's database."

We quickly came to a stop in front of Darkmount's entrance, and the Autobots transformed into their bi-pedal modes while I jumped onto my hoverboard.

"Okay, so SC said she wanted me and Wildfire to go with her to look around the lower floors," I said. "So, who's going to check the database?"

"Me, Smokescreen, and Arcee," Bumblebee said, nodding to the other two. "We'll meet up back here when we're done unless something happens."

"You mean, like us running into Shockwave," Wildfire suggested. When Bumblebee nodded, she gave him a thumbs-up. "Got it. Okay, you two; let's go check this place out."

We instantly ran into Darkmount and split up; Bumblebee, Smokescreen, and Arcee started heading up, while SC led Wildfire and me over to a panel that looked like it had been torn off the wall, revealing a stairwell -- SC's work, no doubt.

As we reached the stairs, I stopped short. "Wildfire...."

"Yeah, I can hear them, too." Wildfire frowned at the sound of banging metal and shouts that were coming from below. "SC, you might be onto something."

I frowned, trying to figure out what the shouts were saying. "That sounds an awful lot like Cybertronian..."

"Because it is," SC replied. She paused, cocking her head to one side for a moment. "You should be getting a translation packet in three, two--"

I blinked when a file suddenly appeared in a corner of my vision, and I closed an eye as I started to go through it.

Instantly, the shouting below us started to become a bit more coherent, but not quite.

"Okay." I nodded. "So, we're going down there?"

"We're going down there," Wildfire confirmed, grinning. She nodded to SC, who started down ahead of us. Wildfire followed after her, with me right on her heels.

It didn't take us too long to find the source of all the yelling. As soon as we reached the base of the stairs, we found what looked like a group of six Cybertronians, two of whom were yelling at each other at the tops of their lungs. And, oddly enough...three of the six actually looked a little familiar.

"I'll have you know that you idiots really got us into a mess!" snapped a green Cybertronian with helicopter blades on his back. "First we manage to finally get rid of the pest problem, and now our entire underground city has been _flooded_ by Energon! And now we're trapped here, waiting for our afts to get picked off when Shockwave comes back from who-knows-where!"

"Do you really think that was our fault?" snapped a green femme in reply. "Something happened to the planet, Springer; it wasn't voodoo."

"I'll believe it when Optimus Prime flies!" Springer snapped in reply.

I burst out laughing at that. "I guess you haven't seen him and his jetpack recently!"

The squabbling stopped at my exclamation, and everyone in the room turned and stared at me, Wildfire, and Shape-Change. A lot of optics widened as I reigned in my laughter, turning it into snickers for a few seconds.

"Wildfire?" the green femme asked, blinking in surprise. "Shape-Change?"

"Hey, Chronica," Wildfire replied. "It's been a while." Her voice sounded a little stiff.

"Springer." Shape-Change gave Springer a nod as she walked down, joining the group. "It's good to see you all alive and well."

"Us?" Springer snorted. "What about you? We thought you were dead! And who's the Mini-Con?"

"Reploid!" I corrected.

"She's a little ally of mine, that's all," Wildfire replied smugly. "And don't let her size fool you; she can melt the best of you." She walked forward, looking around at all the Cybertronians as I followed after her, looking at all the Cybertronians curiously. "What are you all doing down here? You said something about a flooded underground city?"

Chronica nodded. "Yeah. We've been living underground in order to avoid Shockwave and his experiments ever since Ultra Magnus left. Things have been a little too quiet lately, though, so everyone in the city split up so that we wouldn't get caught."

"It's probably been 'too quiet' because Shockwave's on the run," Wildfire replied, grinning.

Seeing Springer's frown, SC explained, "We have been fighting against Megatron directly on a planet called Earth a great distance from here. The reason your city was flooded is because we woke up the planet."

"You did?" Springer looked between us. "Then, that means...the war's over?"

"One Silent Stinger got his voice back and stabbed Megatron through with the Star Saber," I explained. "You could say that it was Bumblebee who won the war for us."

"Bumblebee?" Chronica repeated. "That scout?"

"Warrior, now," Wildfire replied smugly. "We're hunting for Shockwave right now; he's getting the information about his hideouts from the data in this place, and then we're going to head out and storm Shockwave's bases. We could appreciate the help."

I nodded in agreement and was about to add to it when I suddenly got a minor headache, causing me to flinch and close one eye.

\-- _Purple--pain--shots fired--UNICRON--_

I let out a gasp. "Oh, Primus above and below...."

Wildfire turned sharply to look at me. "What?"

Then our comms rang. _::Wildfire, SC, Maria! We've got to get out of here NOW!::_

"Bumblebee, what's going on?" Shape-Change asked.

_ ::It's Megatron!:: _ Smokescreen replied. _::He's back! And he's possessed by Unicron!::_

I suddenly felt queasy. "Megatron's possessed by _who?!"_

"What's going on here?" Chronica asked, frowning.

"We need to get out of here now," Wildfire hissed. "It seems like Megatron's been resurrected from the dead by the Chaos Bringer himself."

"Unicron? Seriously?" Springer frowned. "That's an old femme's tale, isn't it?"

Chronica sent him a glare.

I got another headache -- a worse one this time -- and I closed my eyes and gripped my head while at the same time yelping, "Mirage Break!"

Instantly, what was playing in my head was playing in the air in front of me, too.

_ "Behold, my infinite might!" the possessed Megatron -- now looking bigger, more spiky, and more dangerous -- declared. He summoned a spear of glowing purple crystal, and it dropped into his servo before he threw it into the throne that Bumblebee, Arcee, and Smokescreen were hiding behind. _

_ Then it started beeping. _

_ "Let's roll," Bumblebee said. He led them out from behind the throne, transforming into vehicle mode and driving off the edge of Darkmount. He shot a hole into the roof of the next building over, revealing a tunnel that the Autobots dove into. _

_ Unicron followed them, roaring, and transformed into a flying mode and dove after them just as the purple crystal in the throne exploded. _

I opened my eyes with a gasp as the mirage faded, and looked up at the other Cybertronians, who were staring at me, wide-eyed.

"...okay, so the Chaos Bringer _might_ be real," Springer said uneasily.

"We have to get out of here now," Chronica said. She turned and looked at a blocky red mech and a blue femme. "Ironhide, Beta -- get Alpha Trion and Elita into the tunnels that we can still use." She looked at Springer for a moment, then looked over at us. "You're coming with us, too."

I blinked at that while Wildfire and Shape-Change exchanged looks.

"We need to get to the surface so that Ratchet can Ground Bridge us onto the _Nemesis_ ," Wildfire said. "It's probably the safest place right now."

"Agreed," spoke up the one of the other two mechs in the group -- an older guy with a long mustache and beard, making me wonder if it as even possibly for Cybertronians to grow facial hair.

Then I remembered Rodimus from that alternate Cybertron we had visited.

"I know one that leads up in front of the Kaon outskirts," the blue femme volunteered. "Come on!" She turned and ran into what looked like a cell, only to pry off a part of the back wall, then disappear into it.

"Let's roll!" Chronica exclaimed. She transformed into a rather alien-looking two-wheeled form and took off after the femme.

The red, blocky-looking mech gained a wolfish grin and gave a whoop as he transformed into what I guessed was a van and rolled after her.

"We had better not stand around and be left behind," said the old mech with a twinkle in his optics. He almost reminded me of Gandalf.

"You got that right." Springer then transformed into a _car_ instead of a helicopter and took off after the rest. The pink femme transformed into a form that was similar to Chronica's and followed after her.

Wildfire walked over to the bearded mech and looked him up and down. "You're a real mystery, you know that, Alpha Trion? We found a Maximal named Rhinox who said that he knew you."

"Rhinox?" The bearded mech's optic ridges rose. "It's been too long since I last heard that name! And you found him on Earth?"

Wildfire nodded, then looked over at me. "Come on; I'll be able to explain everything later."

I ducked my head. "Of course you know I've got questions about our new friends."

** Time Break **

It took us a little bit to get Ratchet to bridge us from Kaon's outskirts, and by the time we all got up there, we had filled in our new-found allies about what it was that was going on -- both with the war, and what we could gather about Megatron.

"Okay, where's the Commander?" Springer demanded as we entered the _Nemesis._

"Springer?!" Bulkhead exclaimed. "Wh-what are you going here?" His optics widened when he saw the rest of the group. "Wildfire, where did you _find_ these guys?"

"They've been hiding under the planet's surface," Wildfire explained as the rest of the group followed through.

The red mech -- Ironhide, also known as "the Doberman" -- looked around as we walked on and snorted. "So, this is the Con warship, huh? I didn't think that we'd be using it as a base."

"Much has changed since Optimus left Cybertron," Alpha Trion said thoughtfully. "I believe we will be seeing many unexpected things in the future."

"So, where's the Commander?" Springer stood nose-to-nose with Bulkhead.

"H-he's in the medbay," Bulkhead replied. "We're going to be meeting there now to talk about what happened."

Wildfire gained an uneasy looking grin. "Oh, man, you guys are in for a _real_ surprise."

Chronica gave her an odd look. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see when we get there," SC replied quickly. "Come on."

When we got to the medbay, the others were already talking about what was going on.

"How is this happening?" Arcee was demanding. "I mean, we put out a call for refugees to come back to Cybertron, and _Unicron's_ the first in line?!"

"Oh, dear," Alpha Trion murmured worriedly behind us.

"Not to mention those Predacons," First Aid added, her optic ridges coming together worriedly. "What are we calling them home to?"

"And what are we supposed to call him?" Smokescreen asked. "Megicron? Unitron?"

"Really?" Wildfire demanded as we walked in. "That's your biggest issue right now? His _name?_ "

"Just call him Unicron and be done with it!" I added shortly.

Smokescreen ducked his head. "Right, right...sorry." He looked up. "So, what's the game plan?"

"I'm wondering that, too," Ironhide spoke up, getting the others to look over at him.

I have to say, their reactions were hilarious.

Bumblebee's jaw dropped. "Whoa...Where did you _find_ these guys?"

"Under Darkmount," Wildfire replied.

"Alpha Trion!" Smokescreen yelped. "You're okay!"

Alpha Trion chuckled good-naturedly. "Of course I am, Smokescreen. I have quite the entourage guarding me, you know." He motioned to Beta, Elita, Ironhide, Chronica, and Springer, the last of who was making a beeline for where Magnus was lying on a berth.

Smokescreen sighed with relief. "That's good."

Chronica's jaw dropped. "First Aid? But you -- you're supposed to be dead!"

First Aid shrugged helplessly. "Vector Prime decided to intervene." She gave a slight smile.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alpha Trion get a weird look on his face for a moment, but it was gone before I could figure out what it was.

"Chronica? Elita?" Arcee's optics were wide.

"Arcee!" Elita practically barreled into Arcee and gave her a hug. "It's been ages!"

"Been giving the Cons enough trouble?" Chonica asked as she came over, smirking.

"More than enough of it," Arcee replied.

"Hello? We need a plan?" Ironhide spoke up grumpily.

Bumblebee gave a nod, then turned and walked over to one of the computers nearby and started typing.

"While Unicron may now inhabit a mortal form," Ratchet said, "he is still a god, and thus, cannot be defeated by customary means."

"Optimus? Wheeljack?" Bumblebee said. "This is Bumblebee. We have an urgent situation." He paused for a moment, and when there was no answer, he said, "Optimus, can you hear me? Come in, please! Wheeljack, do you read!"

I flinched, and heard a voice echo in my head -- Wheeljack's.

_ "That hit we took did some damage. The receiver's operational, but we can't transmit." _

"Bee, they can hear you loud and clear," I spoke loudly. "They just can't talk back. I think they got hit with something that knocked their ship around and damaged something."

Bumblebee looked at me in surprise, then gained a determined expression and looked back at the computer. "Optimus, Unicron's back, and he's possessing Megatron's body. We need you to get back here as soon as possible!" He terminated the connection.

"So, what now?" Bulkhead asked.

"You mean, besides the fact that your _Reploid_ somehow knows what's going on in places she isn't?" Ironhide asked, motioning to me.

"Hey!" I barked. "I'll have you know, _Doberman,_ that I have a name -- _Maria Carlsdale._ And, I'm a _World Jumper._ Getting visions kinda comes with the territory!"

_ That _ got a number of stares from the three mechs and three femmes we had brought in.

"Maria?" Elita repeated in surprise. "You don't mean...that sweet little human girl who thought I was a mermaid?"

I rubbed the back of my head at that, only remembering then that Elita's name _used_ to be Arial. "Uh...heh heh...yeah?"

"Interesting," Alpha Trion noted. "I did not think that we would be graced with the presence of a World Jumper, much less someone who had been here before."

"Two, actually," Jolt called from where he was standing in a corner. He pointed at Joshua, who was standing on his shoulder. "Joshua here is kinda one, too."

Joshua gave a nod. "If Unicron is here, rather than in Earth's core where he was supposed to be sealed, then we need to figure out why it is that he's here and what it is that he wants."

"There could only be one reason," Ratchet replied. He looked over at Alpha Trion. "Correct me if I am wrong, but Unicron would want to destroy the Spark of his archenemy, Primus, correct?"

Alpha Trion gave a grim nod. "According to our ancient texts, Primus has always stood in Unicron's way; it would make sense that the Chaos Bringer would come here, when Primus and we least expect it, in order to destroy is counterpart once and for all, so that none may stand in in his way as he brings destruction to the universe."

"It isn't fair!" Arcee declared. "How many more times do we have to save a world? Have to fight for the survival for our home?"

"I'd welcome a fight any day of the week!" Chronica declared. Ironhide gave the femme a wide grin in agreement.

"Unfortunately, the struggle between creation and destruction is an eternal one," Alpha Trion said grimly. Ratchet nodded knowingly in agreement. "And the battle lines that separate the two run through the very Spark of Cybertron. Good, and evil. Order, and chaos."

"One victorious," Ratchet said. "One vanquished. Each forming the core of their own respective worlds. Cybertron...and Earth."

Springer did a double-take. "Whoa! You're saying that the planet you were on while fighting against Megatron--"

"Has Unicron at its core," I finished grimly. "And, it's my home. _All_ of humanity's home."

"And now, that darkness has followed us," Ratchet said. "All the way to _our_ home."

"So, we've got to find him and put the kabosh on him," I said, slamming my fist into an open palm. "Before he not only destroys Cybertron, but Earth, too."

"Which means that we will have to come up with a strategy," Joshua spoke up.

Bumblebee looked over at where Magnus was lying on the berth, then over at Ratchet. "Ratchet, is there a chance that Magnus will be able to give us some help? With Optimus still out in space, we could use his council."

Ratchet shook his helm. "It will take some time before he will be up on his struts again." He paused, and smiled. "Besides, during our time fighting against the Decepticons, we have seen many rise above their station -- scouts, field medics. Perhaps another one of our number will surprise you."

Bumblebee perked up at Ratchet's words, his doorwings straightening a little. "Right. We can launch an attack on Darkmount -- provided Unicron's still there."

"What makes you think he's going to be hanging around _that_ old dump?" Chronica scoffed. "There isn't anything left there that even _we_ could put to use."

"Then, how are we going to know where he is now?" First Aid asked.

"We're going to need to track him," Wildfire said.

Ratchet's optics widened at that, and he gained a look of realization. "I believe I may know of a way. I recommend that we use the warship's operating system to search for Megatron's Spark signal."

Bulkhead gave Ratchet a disbelieving look. "Doc, that remodeled Buckethead may have looked and sounded like Megatron, but it wasn't him!"

"Well, if he's possessing Megatron's body, there's got to be something that links the two," Joshua pointed out.

"Dark Energon," Arcee realized. "Megatron practically lived on the stuff!"

"And there was probably enough running in his veins to allow Unicron to take over Megatron at just the right point in time," Shape-Change added.

"Unicron probably has Megatron's Spark on life support," Jolt said, He winced. "Which means Megatron has to share his head with the Chaos Bringer...."

I shuddered at the very idea.

"Come!" Ratchet motioned for us to follow him. "Let's get to the bridge and find him before Unicron does something more than he already has!"

** Change in POV -- Wildfire **

As the group started out of the medbay and headed towards the bridge, Wildfire was grabbed by Alpha Trion, causing the two to fall behind the others.

"Wildfire, I would like to ask something of you," Alpha Trion said as Wildfire turned to look at him.

Wildfire folded her arms across her chest, raising an optic ridge. "And what exactly is that, old timer?"

"I would like to know what you think of Maria and her family, after having spent twelve years with them."

Wildfire stared at the old archivist, then her optics narrowed. _"How did you know about that?"_

There was an odd twinkle in Alpha Trion's optics, vaguely reminding Wildfire of the mysterious old wizard that had appeared in those three-hour-long movies that the Carlsdales likes so much -- _Lord of the Rings_ or something like that. "I have my ways, Wildfire."

The femme gave a huffing noise. "I'm not going to get any answers out of you, am I?" When the expression on Alpha Trion's face didn't change, she sighed irritably. "They're all right. Eccentric, definitely, but all right. And extremely protective, each and every one of them. They're pretty close-knit with their friends, too, which is something that I happen to appreciate."

"I should think so," Alpha Trion replied, chuckling. "And...Maria?"

"Reckless and a terrible trouble magnet," Wildfire replied, deadpan. "The kid knows she's a World Jumper, and she practically throws herself into every single dangerous situation. Sometimes, I wish she'd think with her head instead of her Spark -- or soul, as the humans call it."

"And you aren't reckless?" Alpha Trion jabbed. "I know for a fact that you weren't thinking when you came to me after escaping from Kaon."

Wildfire's optics narrowed as she tried to think of a retort, but nothing came to mind, so she remained silent.

The Head Archivist chuckled. "Oh, don't look at me like that! You know that I am speaking the truth." He gained a more serious expression. "Keep an eye on her."

Wildfire blinked at the sudden change in Alpha Trion's attitude.

"I believe that, while Maria may be enjoying herself now with what she has done, there is a chance that she will soon be facing things that will change her outlook on life. Let her know that she will have you and others at her back always, even when the stars fall and her life seems to have fallen apart."

With that, Alpha Trion walked past Wildfire and into the bridge without a word, leaving the femme staring after him with a confused expression.


	45. Chapter 45

** Maria's POV **

_ Bing! _

"Megatron's Spark!" I yelped, pointing at the bridge's monitor in surprise. "He _is_ still in his body somewhere!"

"How can he still be alive?" Arcee asked, disbelieving.

"He's perished and returned before," Ratchet replied grimly. "A phenomenon no doubt aided by the blood of Unicron which coursed through his veins."

"The coordinates indicate he's left Darkmount," Bumblebee noted.

Ratchet started working at the computers again. "Triangulating his exact position...."

A set of coordinates popped up.

"We were there," Bumblebee realized. "Earlier today!"

"Predaking's refuge?" Sparkseer gained a frown.

"Is Unicron retracing our steps?" Bulkhead asked, uneasy.

"Wait!" Smokescreen pointed to the screen. "What's that?"

I frowned looking at the screen. Under the marker that said where Megatron was, there were a lot of purple dots that were starting to appear. "That looks like bad news...it's the color of Dark Energon."

"Given that we are dealing with Unicron himself," Ratchet said, "that energy mass _is_ more than likely Dark Energon. But...for what purpose?"

I heard Wildfire make an odd noise from the back of the group. We all turned and looked back at her.

"Maria." Her optics locked with my eyes. "Do you remember what Predaking said? How he had legions there that had been extinct since the Cataclysm?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I remember. Why do you ask?"

"Think about it. What can Dark Energon do besides act like human steroids?"

It took me a moment to remember what it was that Wildfire was getting at -- mostly because I had never been there to see such an event. My eyebrows shot up. "You're suggesting that...he's turning all the dead Predacons into _zombies?"_

_ That _ got a reaction out of everybody -- mostly surprise from our new teammates, but...Alpha Trion had a worried look on his face more than anything else....

"Unicron's raising an army," Arcee noted grimly.

"One that's currently traveling across the Hydrax Plateau, towards..." Ratchet's voice suddenly became quiet. _"The Well of AllSparks."_

I turned sharply to look up at the monitor at that.

"The most direct route to Cybertron's core," Ratchet finished. "And Primus."

My eyes widened at that, and I swallowed. "No...."

Ratchet turned to face the rest of us. "Unicron clearly seeks to access our planet's core from the same point of entry that we used to restore it."

"He's going to undo what you did," Elita realized.

"What do we do?" Bulkhead asked.

"We put ourselves between Unicron's army and the well," Bumblebee suggested. "Our strongest assets are this warship and whatever might still be stored in its vault."

"Last time I looked, it was just the Polarity Gauntlet and the Immobilizer," Smokescreen said. "I'll go round up the secret weapons." He turned and took off.

"We're going to need someone to pilot the ship," Bumblebee continued. "Bulkhead?"

"Hey, don't give that job to him!" Springer responded. "I'm a better pilot than Bulk is; I can handle this Con tech easier than all of you could."

Bulkhead nodded. "Sure; go ahead."

Bumblebee turned to look at Ratchet and First Aid. "You guys shouldn't be in the line of fire; you've already done more than enough for us and this world. We'll drop you off a safe distance from here with Ultra Magnus."

Ratchet gave a nod. First Aid looked like she wanted to protest, but when she saw the look on Bumblebee's face, she gave a nod. "All right."

"Elita, Beta, you two should stay out of this, too," Chronica said seriously, looking at the other two femmes.

"Sister!" Elita frowned. "I am not going to be bossed around by you when the planet's at stake!"

I blinked. Sister? Huh. I didn't think Cybertronians saw each other as siblings sometimes, but I guess, if they're close enough....

"What will Optimus think when he hears you died in battle before he got the chance to see you again?" Chronica hissed in response.

"I will be staying out of this, as well," Alpha Trion spoke up as I noticed the bridge of the _Nemesis_ shift. I adjusted the height of my hoverboard accordingly. "This battle is no place for an old bot like me."

Wildfire snorted. "Old bot is right."

"I am not going to be staying out of this fight," Elita said stubbornly.

"You might as well lighten up," Beta said to Chronica. "She's not going to let you boss her around. I'll stay with Ratchet, Aid, Magnus, and Trion, though, you can count on that."

Chronica hesitated for a moment, then gave a slight nod. "All right...but if you die, then I'm gonna go into the Well of AllSparks, find you again, and kill you myself."

Elita nodded in response. "Of course."

"Maria, I want you to stay out of this, too." Wildfire fixed her gaze on me, causing me to stiffen in surprise.

"Stay out of it?" I snorted. "And miss out on this fight? No way!"

"Maria, there is more of a chance that you could be killed here than any other place that you've been to," Wildfire snarled seriously. "I don't want to have to be the one to tell your parents that you died when you were only eighteen years old."

"I think I will stay out of this, as well," Joshua added. "Jolt has all the projects that we've designed together; he'll be able to handle himself well enough with those." He fixed me with a look that seemed to say that I should follow his lead.

I felt antsy. "I know that something big's going to happen, and I don't want to miss it."

"Your life is more important," Wildfire replied. "Think about your parents, Maria."

I winced when Mom and Dad instantly came to mind at Wildfire's words.

"You are definitely staying out of this," Wildfire said with a definite nod.

I found that I didn't have the strength to argue against her.

** Time Break **

As the _Nemesis_ flew away from the platform that it had dumped all of us on, I couldn't help but feel like I was going to be missing out on something even bigger than the normal fights I was involved in, but Wildfire's words about Mom and Dad were still weighing on my mind.

The two directions that my thoughts were going on -- go and help, or stay in safety -- were enough to make me pace nervously back and forth while little spurts of flame occasionally sprouted from my fingertips.

Joshua shook his head at me every time I passed by him; Beta only watched me in curious confusion.

Ratchet huffed. "Maria, that is not going to help you."

"I can't help but feel like I need to be there!" I responded to the medic. "Something big is going down and the World Jumper's not there? Something disastrous could happen!"

"You trust your comrades, do you not?" Alpha Trion pointed out. "They should be able to handle themselves, considering that they have been fighting this war for quite some time -- the gladiators, especially."

"I know that! It's just... _Unicron."_ I shuddered, thinking of the monstrosity that I had seen through my visions when I had been working with the Justice League. "I don't know how well they're going to be able to handle him. O-or, if they do, what's going to happen to Unicron and Megatron."

Alpha Trion raised an optic ridge. "You are...worried?"

"More like concerned. For Megatron." I saw the looks I was getting. "Look, I know it sounds weird, but I don't like it when I see people being put in situations like that. Megatron is the lesser of the two evils when compared to Unicron, and, while he does deserve punishment for what he has done...I don't think that sicking Unicron on him is the best idea."

Alpha Trion gained an expression of understanding at this.

"Yes, I do see a point in that," Ratchet grumbled. "But still! Sympathy for a Decepticon?"

"There are some villains which I will draw the line for," I responded. "Dr. Wily is one of those who has gone so far over the deep end that he has lost all chances of having that sympathy. Megatron used to be that way, too. But...he, like others, was a victim of circumstance. He only became who he was because of society. I read the Covenant -- there was a section in there about the castes that you used to have here before the war."

Ratchet visibly flinched at that, while Joshua's eyebrows shot up in interest.

"Megatron was the lowest of the low; of course he was going to have ambition for power! The problem is that he wasn't able to have access to the things that Optimus did. The things that led Optimus to make similar decisions about the castes, but different ones, too. If Megatron had been pointed in a slightly different direction, he could have turned out like Optimus."

"That I find hard to believe," Ratchet grumbled.

"Remember Tronus?"

Ratchet flinched again while First Aid nodded sagely.

"Tronus?" Alpha Trion repeated, interested.

"An alternate dimension version of Megatron," Joshua explained. "He was a mathematician, not a gladiator, so he saw things differently." He paused. "Unfortunately, that world's Optimus Prime -- Optronix -- saw things differently, as well. Despite the fact that he was in the same place as Orion Pax had been, Optronix acted very much like a Decepticon and had people assassinated when he didn't like them or if they got in his way."

Alpha Trion gained an uneasy look at that. "...I see. That is...different."

"Yeah." I nodded. "So, after seeing Tronus acting like that, I can't help but think there might be a chance for Megatron to reform."

"That may be so, but I think it will take some time before Megatron would even be in such a state." Ratchet snorted. "Or even be put in that state."

"If he's in his head at the same time that Unicron is, I think he'll start rethinking that pretty quickly," I replied. "Megatron wants to conquer worlds. Unicron wants to destroy them, and he's clearly the more powerful of the two. I don't think that Megatron's going to be the same mech if we manage to get him free of Unicron's control."

"...you know, the Reploid's got a point," Beta said, blinking in surprise. "I definitely wouldn't want to wish the Chaos Bringer on anyone."

I nodded in agreement. "Exactly."

_ Screee! _

I turned my head sharply when I heard the screeching cry, and my eyes widened when I saw the flapping form of what looked like a Predacon coming towards us. There was something...off about it, though. It definitely wasn't colorful, for one -- instead, it looked like a skeleton that was barely being held together...and it had a pair of creepy purple eyes, too.

"A Terrorcon!" Ratchet exclaimed. He brought out his swords and moved in front of Ultra Magnus, who was still out cold.

Flames exploded on my shoulders as I started to build up power. I quickly reached the threshold for White Flare, and then I stared to push myself _past_ it.

"Okay; I hope this works! White Flare: 150 percent! _Heat Wave_!"

The resulting explosion of red-white flames was blasted up at the Terrorcon, who let out a harsh screech as my attack slammed into it, blasting it to dust.

I stumbled back a few steps, watching the explosion and gaining a wide grin. "Whoo!" Then I stumbled and landed on my rear, my legs having lost the strength to keep me upright. "Okay, I'm definitely not going to be moving for a good _long_ while."

Then my arms and back gave out, and I fell to the ground completely.

** Change in POV **

"Whoa!" Beta's jaw dropped. "How did she _do_ that?"

"It's something that only Maria can do," Joshua replied as he knelt next to where Maria had collapsed. Seeing that she was out cold, he reached behind his back and pulled out a small vial of Energon. "This should help her keep herself from burning out any energy reserves she might have." He popped the vial open and moved his hand under Maria's back lifting her up before forcing her mouth open and pouring the vial's contents down her throat.

"That is quite a lot of power for someone so small and young," Alpha Trion noted with amazement. "I don't think that even Wildfire would be capable of unleashing an attack like that."

Joshua hummed in response as he lowered Maria back to the ground. "That attack she used -- she used more power than she usually does. Mechanical beings should be unable to reach power levels that read as 150 percent normally, but Maria pushed herself enough to cause that to happen." He paused. "According to Matthew, when she pushed herself to 125 percent on the world they traveled together to, Maria nearly killed herself. Something's changed to allow her to push herself even further without making herself run out completely, but I'm not entirely sure what."

Ratchet activated his medical scanner and scanned Maria before looking at the data that resulted. His optics widened. "Maria's energy levels...are rising at a steady rate?! But you only gave her a small amount of Energon -- she shouldn't be able to regain her energy this quickly!"

"Well, something in her systems is causing her to," Joshua replied. "I believe it might be her core, but I can't be entirely sure -- mostly on account of the fact that she refuses to let herself be torn open for experiments. And I respect that."

Ratchet huffed. "First Maria is a human who was changed into a Reploid, and now she is capable of producing her own power? What next?"

"I don't think that we'll ever be able to really know," Joshua replied. "However, what I am wondering right now is why that undead Predacon came over here to attach us just now? And are we going to be seeing more coming for us?"

"Only time will tell," Alpha Trion replied grimly.


	46. Chapter 46

** Wildfire's POV **

"So, you're partnered up with that feisty kid, huh?"

I looked over as Chronica and Ironhide walked over, then looked back out the bridge's front window.

"I'd kinda like to see what she's like in a fight," Ironhide said. "Did you teach her any of your tricks?"

I shook my head. "Maria's a long-range fighter. If I could teach her anything, she would probably fall right back into her old habits and start throwing fireballs at the enemy. I think she learned that from hanging out with those Pokemon too much...." I saw the weird looks I was getting and I shook my head. "It's a long story involving World Jumping and something Vector Prime pulled. I'm not going into it now."

Ironhide and Chronica exchanged looks as Elita One came over.

"Sounds like you two have been through a lot," Elita One commented.

I snorted. "That's an understatement. Getting dragged along on Maria's little adventures for the last two years...trust me, there are some things that I've seen that you wouldn't believe. Or want to see."

I definitely wouldn't want to see that evil Optimus ever again, that's for sure.

"Is any of that going to compare to what we're about to do?" Elita One asked.

I shook my head. "Maria hasn't faced hordes of the undead like this. Or someone who may as well be evil incarnate." I snorted. "The worst she's had to deal with is a sentient computer virus that was trying to destroy the universe."

"Now _that_ I find hard to believe," Chronica said in agreement with what I'd said earlier.

I shrugged in response. "Well, it happened. I'm not going to get you to believe it without Maria pulling some of her stunts, though, and she's definitely not going to be following us with Joshua to keep an eye on her."

"I'm not so sure what to think of that kid," Ironhide said with a shake of his head. "They don't look like Cybertronians, but that mech can tell exactly what's going on with our tech just by looking at it. Jolt said he doesn't get it, either."

"And what's with the both of them speaking Cybertronian if they're from Earth?" Chronica added, raising an optic ridge.

"SC sent Maria a data packet before we found you," I replied. "She probably doesn't realize that she's speaking Cybertronian. Jolt probably did the same for Joshua a while back, or the kid figured it out on his own." I paused. "Which would be a little freaky, all things considered."

Ironhide snorted. "'Freaky', huh? Doesn't sound like a word you'd normally use."

I frowned. "I've been on Earth for twelve of their years; you'd pick up some things if you were there for that long."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, did you actually get to see one of those 'doberman' things that Morgen and Kate said I was?"

"Yeah. One nearly took Maria's little brother's servo off." I frowned, recalling the incident from when I had still been stuck in Maria's head. "They've decided against getting a pet because of that."

"Oh, you're talking about those stupid animals that the humans like to pamper so much that leave all that fur all over the seats of their automobiles?" Knock Out came over, shuddering. "I don't know what those fleshies see in them!"

I glared at the mech. "They're loyal and can take on anyone who might be dangerous to their owners."

We had Starscream locked away in the brig, and the Immobilizer was destroyed, but we did have another _possible_ ally, considering that the only reason Knock Out had turned against Screamer "rude."

I still didn't trust him. And neither did Ironhide or Chronica. Elita One, on the other hand seemed to be willing to give the guy a chance, despite him having served on the Decepticon's side for who knows how long.

"Are we there yet?" Smokescreen asked as he and Arcee walked onto the bridge.

"We're right on schedule," Springer replied, not looking away from the controls.

"And so is Unicron," Bumblebee replied.

My optics narrowed as I looked out over Cybertron, seeing the moving mass of gray and purple that was coming towards the well. "We'd better start firing those blasters and cannons if we're going to put a dent in that."

Ironhide and Chronica exchanged grins, then bolted for the controls and started activating the _Nemesis'_ weapons; instantly, red blasts started firing down at the army.

I smirked when I saw puffs of something come up and fade away from certain areas of Unicron's army. "Looks like we're getting his attention."

Springer swung us around and turned us back around to face Unicron's army. "We got his attention, all right! Looks like some of those Predacon things can fly!"

"Then let's hit 'em out of the sky!" Ironhide replied.

The blasters promptly started up again, taking more of the Predacons out.

"Maybe Starscream had the right idea," Knock Out muttered, referring to Starscream's plan to get off-world.

I snorted. "Like we're going to be able to escape Unicron's reach forever; it's better to cut off his head now while we have the chance."

_ Bam! Scree! _

"Gah!" Knock Out scrambled back from the window as one of the undead Predacons slammed into it. "Zombiecon! Zombiecon!"

I moved alongside Bumblebee and Smokescreen, summoning fireballs into my servos as the other two prepared to fire their blasters.

_ Scree-- BAMF! _

I blinked, then frowned when I saw the undead Predacon explode into dust as a flamethrower knocked it off the ship. "Maria, if you're doing something--"

Then I saw what was going on outside, and I relaxed slightly.

"Is it Optimus?" Arcee asked, moving to get a better view of what was going on.

"No." Sparkseer shook his head at the back of the bridge. "It is Predaking, and it seems that he has brought some allies with him."

I eyed the two Predacons that were flying to either side of Predaking, working with him. "Think they're the two Predacons who took out Magnus?"

"They are!" Smokescreen confirmed. He looked over at Bumblebee. "Well, you called it, Bee -- Predacon allies. And to think that Optimus almost passed down the Matrix to me."

It took a moment for that to sink in.

"He almost _what?"_ I asked.

"To you?" Bumblebee stared at Smokescreen in surprise.

"Yeah." Smokescreen nodded. "But right place, right time doesn't mean right 'bot. I know that now."

"You've mellowed out, kid," I commented. "I don't think we can call you the Rookie anymore."

Smokescreen rubbed the back of his helm, looking embarrassed at what I'd said. He was clearly about to say something, but--

_ BAM BAM BAM BAM! _

The bridge started tilting downward as alarms went off, sending us scrambling for a way to keep balance.

"Brace for impact!" Springer yelled.

I grabbed hold of the wall and braced myself against it, gritting my denta as the ship cam down for a jolty, skidding landing.

_ BANG! _

Just slamming into the ground was enough to send most of us flying from where we had taken hold of the ship. And it was a little bit longer before the _Nemesis_ finally came to a stop.

"Whoo! Nothing a little Carnuva wax won't fix up." Knock Out stood up, carefully dusting himself off.

The rest of us were soon on our feet, and I couldn't help but fix Knock Out with something of a contemptuous glance. He was really living up to his nickname of Narcissus right now, but I wasn't about to say anything about it.

We had an army of undead monsters to take out first.

We somehow managed to lower the gangplank and get out of the ship with mostly minor scratches to our paint -- nothing that I was really concerned about, considering that I wasn't really all that into aesthetics.

I summoned my blasters as soon as we caught sight of the line of undead Predacons that was coming for us. "Okay; those things are going down."

_ Scree! Bang! _

I jumped and turned to look up at Predaking as he and his two fellow Predacons landed behind us.

_ "My legions, the time is upon us! Destroy Primus with your dragonfire!" _

I felt a shudder run down my back when I heard Megatron's voice, and I turned again, only to see _all_ of his undead Predacons take off into the air and start flying towards us.

"We're the last line of defense," Bumblebee said with a determined glare.

"I would recommend leaving _that_ to those more suited for the task," Predaking replied.

I snorted. "Whatever you say, Warrior King. Just don't get cranky if some of us try to get a hit in."

Predaking blinked for a moment, then gained a wide grin before he barked at his two Predacons. "Skylynx! Darksteel! Allow nothing to enter the Well!"

With that, the three transformed and took off towards Unicron's army, releasing flamethrowers and short blasts of fire at the undead monsters.

I retracted my blasters and did something that I never thought I would have to do in a situation like this: I summoned my fire powers and focused.

Between my servos, a sphere of fire formed -- small at first, but it quickly grew larger with the more power that I poured into it.

"Whoa!" Knock Out stumbled back quickly. "Be careful! You're going to warp my paint!"

I ignored him as a low growl started coming out of my throat. When the ball of fire was as big as my head, I gave it one last burst, then forced it forward and up as the undead Predacons suddenly overtook the living ones, catching them up in their massive numbers.

_ BOOM! _

The resulting blast took out a good number of them, but it still wasn't enough; a large number of undead Predacons -- with Predaking and the others in tow -- still disappeared down the Well.

"Is...this how it's going to end?" Jolt asked a little nervously.

"We're not going to let our planet die," Bumblebee replied. "Not without taking Unicron with it!"

I looked at the kid, impressed at his determination. The kid was clearly starting to act more like a leader than he ever could have when we had first been on Cybertron.

Then I heard a noise come from the sky -- engines.

"Look! Above us!" Sparkseer pointed upward.

Springer looked up. "Isn't that...Magnus' ship?"

"Wheeljack and Optimus borrowed it to go get the AllSpark," I replied, looking at Springer and the others. "Come on! Either they don't have it, or they do. Either way, we're going to need to do something about Unicron so that Optimus can come in without getting shot down and kick his tailpipe into the next megacycle!"

I took off, running after the ship, with the others in pursuit.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see that big rig!" Knock Out exclaimed.

As if Optimus was listening -- which I hope he wasn't -- the hatch opened up, revealing Optimus.

"And so the Prime returns!" Unicron summoned a purple, crystal-like spear. He probably would have thrown it at Optimus...if not for the fact that Optimus promptly flew right into him, knocking the wind out of the Chaos Bringer.

"Maria wasn't kidding when she said Optimus could fly," I heard Springer say in amazement.

Unfortunately, the spear hit Magnus' ship, sending it spiraling down into a crash.

"Jackie!" Bulkhead exclaimed. He transformed down and drove over to where the crash happened.

"I'm coming with you, Bulk!" Springer jumped up and transformed into a helicopter, following Bulkhead. Arcee, Shape-Change, and Jolt followed after him, leaving me, Bumblebee, Smokescreen, Sparkseer, Ironhide, Chronica, and Elita One to watch the ensuing fistfight between Unicron and Optimus.

"Thank you, Prime, for delivering to me the AllSpark so that I may erase it from existence," Unicron hissed. Now that he was closer, I could tell that his voice was mostly Megatron's, but there was something else hiding underneath that, as well.

"Not while I stand before you, Unicron," Optimus replied.

The two of them promptly rammed into each other.

"Megatron!" Optimus called as he punched and kicked at Unicron's borrowed form, "You and I once united to save a world from Unicron. We must do so again!"

"Megatron may hear you," Unicron replied. "But he cannot help you! For he is enduring eternal suffering!"

Optimus tried to get a few more hits in, but Unicron summoned what looked like a hammer and slammed it into Optimus, knocking him flat on his back.

"Your efforts of saving Cybertron's most sacred relic are futile!" Unicron continued.

"Come on!" Bumblebee took off running towards the fight. "We've got to help Optimus!"

Something wanted me to say that we should stay out of it -- this felt like too much of a gladiator fight that it was stirring up a few memories -- but when I saw Ironhide and the others follow after Bumblebee, I shook myself out of my memories and followed.

"What's the plan?" Ironhide asked.

"I've got the Polarity Gauntlet. It should keep Unicron from moving very much so that Optimus can get on his feet again." Bumblebee held up an arm and grinned.

"My legion is within reach of Primus, you're planet's very core!" Unicron continued, "and I have dispatched one of them to finish off the World Jumper who is hiding at this very moment!"

I felt my Energon turn cold at that, then burn hot with anger. I got Maria _out_ of this fight so that she wouldn't get hurt! And now Unicron has sent one of those monsters after her?!

I felt my fires start to become stoked rather quickly.

"And you and I both know that the AllSpark cannot thrive in a poisoned well."

We managed to get into position just as Unicron started to raise his hammer, and Bumblebee activated the gauntlet just before Unicron could have brought it down.

"Downside to wearing metal near the Polarity Gauntlet?" Knock Out quipped.

"Your subject to the laws of magnetism," Smokescreen replied.

"Optimus, go!" Bumblebee yelled. "Save the AllSpark!"

"We'll take care of big, dark, and gruesome!" Ironhide added, activating his blasters.

Optimus quickly rose to his feet and flew over to the wreckage of Wheeljack's ship just as my fire abilities exploded.

"Grrrrarrgh!" I moved my servos in front of me like I was pushing something, forcing all the fire that was building in me to explode out of them, forming a flamethrower that slammed into Unicron's back, causing him to yell in pain.

"Whoa!" Smokescreen stared at me in surprise. "I didn't think you could do that!"

"Neither could I." I spared a glance at Smokescreen for a moment before activating my blasters. "Let's take down this sucker!"

Ironhide and Chronica laughed in response, while Elita One nodded in determination.

"Grrraaaaa!" Unicron finally managed to bring the hammer over his helm. Unfortunately, that also sent Bumblebee flying over _him._

Ironhide, Chronica, and I started blasting Unicron in the scorched part of his back, causing him to turn and form purple-crystal-like blasters around his servos. Not wanting to get hit, we dodged out of the way of the blasts, as did the rest of the group. As we were getting back up to shoot at him, however, Unicron transformed and flew after Optimus.

"Come on!" I rose to my feet and started running after them before transforming at a dead run, pouring on the speed. "We can't let Unicron have the AllSpark!"

By the time that I'd transformed into my vehicle mode, however, Unicron had already fired on Optimus, sending him crashing to the ground.

I could hear tires squealing -- not only mine, but others as well, as we tried to catch up before Unicron to get his servos on the AllSpark and not only end our chances of having more Cybertronians, but a chance to actually live on our home planet, as well.

"I shall devour your AllSpark whole!" Unicron roared.

I started growling. "No, you are _not!_ "

Then Unicron _screamed_.

I came to a screeching stop a short distance away, transforming and staring in shock as a mass of purple energy suddenly shot up from Unicron's borrowed body and into an odd-looking container of some kind that promptly sealed itself shut as the last bits disappeared inside.

Elita One came up next to me, transforming and staring at the container as Unicron's borrowed body collapsed. "Dark Energon!"

"Not just Dark Energon," Optimus replied as he walked over to the container. The rest of us followed as Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Arcee, Springer, and Shape-Change came over from the wreckage. "As a being comprised of pure energy, Unicron's Anti-Spark was vulnerable to this reliquary of the Primes."

I blinked at that, then frowned at the container. Sure enough, there was something writhing around and yelling in anger in there. "So, if Unicron's in there, what about Megatron?"

"And what about the AllSpark?" Smokescreen asked. "It was what was in there, right?"

Before Optimus could reply, I heard a voice that I did not think I wanted to hear again.

"Praise the AllSpark!"

I turned sharply at Starscream's screech, catching sight of the Seeker landing next to...Megatron, who was rising to his feet.

"Master!" Starscream exclaimed. "You are alive!"

Megatron rubbed his helm, as though getting rid of the last few dredges of a headache. "Indeed."

"Your new battle armor will take things to the next level, my liege!" Starscream continued as Megatron rose to his full height and inspected himself, a really confused look on his face. "Together, we will reunite all Decepticons and once again grind Cybertron under your mighty heel!"

I shifted my stance, ready to fight if need be.

"NO!"

I relaxed out of surprise at Megatron's roar.

"What?" Starscream looked confused as Megatron turned and looked over at us. "Why?"

Megatron paused a moment, looking us over before stopping and looking at Optimus. "Because I now know the true meaning of oppression, and have thus lost my taste for inflicting it. There is _no_ peace through tyranny."

My optics widened as my optic ridges shot up. Unicron being in Megatron's helm really _did_ bring him back to his old self.

Starscream laughed nervously. "You've clearly been traumatized, Master. A good power down and a stroll around the smelting pits will put you back in touch with your inner warlord."

I saw Megatron's servos clench into fists, and I couldn't help but smirk. Starscream was really going to get it for not listening.

"ENOUGH!" Megatron bellowed. "The Decepticons are no more. And _that_ is _final._ If you utter another word about it, _I will end you."_ He turned and looked back at us while Starscream quailed in fear. "Tell your little World Jumper friend that I heard her words through Unicron's legions."

My optic ridges shot up even higher. "You _heard_ Maria?"

"If a human who is no longer human has sympathy for me, perhaps there is still hope that I will be able to redeem myself."

With that, Megatron turned and, transforming, flew off -- towards Kaon, no doubt. It'd been the start of the Decepticon movement -- his home -- _our_ home -- and it was probably one of the few places where he could gather his thoughts before moving somewhere else.

Probably as far away from civilization as possible, too, if he was going to try and redeem himself.

Starscream recovered as soon as Megatron was out of sight, and he looked over at us with something of a sheepish expression. "Yes, well, we all have something to think about, don't we?"

I summoned a fireball, glaring at the Seeker, while Sparkseer did the same with a ball of Spark energy.

"Eep!" Starscream promptly turned and fled, transforming and flying off over the wreckage of the _Nemesis._

Sparkseer and I let out attacks fade, then looked at each other and grinned.

"Where is Ultra Magnus?" Optimus asked in a low rumble.

"With Ratchet, First Aid, Beta, Maria, Joshua, and Alpha Trion," SC replied. "Magnus was heavily damaged by a pair of Predacons that Shockwave had cloned, and so we called Ratchet, Jolt, and Maria and Joshua to our assistance here."

Optimus' optics widened. "Alpha Trion?" There was a lot of emotion in his voice -- a lot more than I'd heard in a _long_ time, in fact.

"Since the _Nemesis_ is down, we won't be able to Ground Bridge them here until I get that fixed," Jolt said. "It'll take a few days, but I think that I'll be able to fix it with Ratchet's help."

"So, how are we going to get them here?" I asked. "Considering that Ultra Magnus is probably still out of it."

_ Screee! _

Three familiar Predacons came flying out of the Well, looking no worse for the wear.

"I think we just found their rides," Arcee replied, smirking.


	47. Chapter 47

** Maria's POV **

I'd managed to wake up from my power drain by the time that the Predacons were coming to pick us up. I didn't know that they were coming, but I couldn't help but get the sense that something big had happened, and all of us were going to learn what exactly it was pretty soon.

Joshua had the exact same look on his face when the three Predacons landed in front of us, making me scramble to my feet in surprise while the others reacted like they were ready to chop the Predacons' heads off -- except for Ratchet, who looked more uneasy than anything else.

My gaze was on the two other Predacons as Predaking transformed. Looking up at him, I said, "So you _did_ manage to find them."

Predaking gave a curt nod. "The battle is over. Unicron has been defeated, and Megatron has declared the Decepticons disbanded. I would have preferred it if he had not fled like a coward after saying so, however."

"Megatron said that?" First Aid asked in surprise.

"I hope you'll forgive me for finding that hard to believe," Ratchet huffed.

"We didn't hear him say it personally, but it seems he said that he had lost his taste for inflicting oppression," commented one of the Predacons.

"It seems that Unicron caused Megatron to see things a little differently," Joshua noted. "Interesting."

I nodded, remembering something that I had heard about some time ago -- about how a version of Eggman that I knew, now called Kintobor, who had seen some things and reversed his way of thinking. "It makes sense." My brow furrowed. "Still, I'm a little worried about him. It might be a good idea if we looked for him."

"Later," Predaking replied curtly. "As much as I would like to find that tyrant myself, there are other matters to attend to."

I could hear the snarl in the Predacon's voice, and I wondered if Predaking was planning on killing Megatron still.

"The Prime requested all of you to be taken to the Well of AllSparks before we went and looked for Starscream." Predaking gained a sneering smile, and I got a sudden chill down my spine. The other two Predacons exchanged grins, as well; clearly they were planning on getting the Seeker, and they weren't exactly pleased at having to take a detour for us.

"Couldn't they just Ground Bridge us?" First Aid asked. "Or use the _Nemesis_ to pick us up?"

The other Predacon who hadn't spoken yet let out a snicker. "Oh, that won't work. The ship's been taken out of commission!"

"It crashed?" Beta asked in worry. "No one got hurt, did they?"

Predaking shook his helm. "No. Now, come." He transformed into his beast form, the other two following suit.

Surprisingly, Alpha Trion was actually the one who moved first.

"Of course, Your Highness." Alpha Trion walked over and climbed onto Predaking's back with surprisingly relative ease for an old Cybertronian who had possibly been around since before the Great Cataclysm. "Maria, Joshua, come join me, please."

Joshua and I exchanged looks before we scrambled up one of Predaking's legs and onto his back, sitting down in front of Alpha Trion. Everyone else was a little more reluctant, but eventually, Beta ended up on the Predacon who had told us about the _Nemesis'_ crash, and First Aid and Ratchet were on the other one.

As for Ultra Magnus, well, he ended up getting picked up carefully by Predaking, berth and all, before we were flown off to the Well of AllSparks.

The ride was a little bumpy every time Predaking flapped his wings, but it did go pretty quickly.

As soon as Predaking and the others had dropped us off and taken off again, I made a beeline for Wildfire, who was standing next to Sparkseer, Ironhide, Chronica, Arcee, and Elita. "What happened? How did you get Megatron away from Unicron? When did Optimus get back?"

"Optimus came back just before Unicron could take out his brother," Wildfire replied. "The Predacons claimed the last line of defense for themselves, but I still managed to fire a shot off." She scowled. "He said that he'd sent one after you."

"I took care of it," I replied. "The beastie didn't even get to land."

Ironhide let out a whistle. "You were able to take out one of those things without letting it land? That's pretty good."

"Well, it looked about as big as some of the other monsters I've taken on, just...well, made out of metal and dark energy. So I pushed a little extra into my attack and ended up firing off a 150 percent."

Wildfire did a double-take. "A _what?_ Kid, 125 percent was more than enough to _kill_ you the last time you pushed yourself over the edge! How did you manage _one hundred fifty?!"_

I laughed and shrugged in response. "It's just how I am, that's all." My eyes went over the group, a smile crossing my face when I saw Alpha Trion and Optimus greeting each other like old friends. Then I caught sight of the glowing purple thing behind them, and my smile faded.

"Hey, Wildfire." I jumped on my hoverboard and rose up in order to get a better look. "What's _that_ thing?"

Wildfire looked over. "Unicron's Anti-Spark -- basically, that's his spirit."

I blinked, then gained a worried expression. "So, he's not getting out of there?"

"Nope. Not unless someone opens it."

"...that thing should never see the light of day. Ever."

Wildfire nodded in response. "We're going to make sure he doesn't, but Optimus wanted to tell us something first."

I saw Optimus moving onto a platform that was jutting out over the gigantic Well, and I motioned for Wildfire to move in closer as I moved to hover in front of the platform -- not _on_ it, because Optimus clearly had the floor.

"In order to both protect the AllSpark and secure Unicron's defeat, it was necessary for me to empty the vessel's contents," Optimus said, looking over us.

I saw Alpha Trion bow his helm, which caused me to frown in confusion.

"Into where?" Bumblebee asked.

"The Matrix of Leadership," Optimus replied, looking down at himself. He looked back at us. "As a result, my own Spark cannot be separated from the multitude of others within me."

I felt a twinge in my chest, like something was going to happen and I was _definitely_ not going to like it.

"Are you telling us...that you are now...one with the AllSpark?" Ratchet asked cautiously.

"But that's what you say when someone kicks the...." Smokescreen trailed off.

My eyes widened as I filled in where Smokescreen stopped. "No...." I looked up at the leader of the Autobots. "Optimus?"

"To not return the AllSpark to the well would be to prevent future generations of new life from existing on Cybertron," Optimus replied. "My quest _must_ be completed."

"Optimus, I didn't return to save a life--" Ratchet motioned to Magnus behind him "--only to lose the one I care the most about."

"Ratchet's restored planets!" Bulkhead agreed. "He'll find a way to save you!"

"Optimus...." Elita stepped forward, looking up with unhappiness in her optics.

"We can use Vector Sigma," Arcee spoke up. "Just like we did before."

"Because the Matrix must now be relinquished with the AllSpark, it cannot be restored," Optimus replied. "Or, passed down to another. But while this may very well mark the end of the Age of Primes --" Here, he looked at Alpha Trion with an expression that seemed to show experience far beyond anything I could hope to gain before looking at the rest of us "-- leadership can be earned with, or without the Matrix. And in my view, you have each acted as a Prime."

I couldn't help but feel warm at Optimus' words, despite the fact that he was planning something that would mean more sorrow than...well, then I think that I really wanted to bear.

"Well, I...never really had the best role models," Knock Out commented, looking away in embarrassment. I was going to have to ask Wildfire later why Knock Out was still here and not running for the hills somewhere.

Optimus turned, looking at the sun that was rising. "As even Megatron has demonstrated on this day, every sentient being has the capacity for change." He activated his jet pack, then turned and looked back at us. "I only as this of you, fellow Autobots. Keep fighting the noblest of fights."

"You can count on us to keep the peace," Bumblebee said, stepping forward.

"Both here and on other worlds," I added, nodding.

Optimus gave us a smile, and he spoke again -- this time, though, his voice seemed more gentle. "Above all, do not lament my absence, for in my Spark, I know that this is not the end, but merely a new beginning. Simply put, another transformation."

Then, Optimus turned and shot up into the sky before looping around...and diving down into the Well.

At the same time, I felt something in my chest _wrench,_ and I quickly hid my eyes from the others in order to hide my tears. A metal hand wrapped around me and pulled me close; I didn't need to look up in order to know that it was Wildfire.

I heard Elita break down in tears somewhere nearby.

Then, the Well _exploded_.

The noise alone was enough to make me look up in surprise, and my eyes widened in wonder and awe as colored spheres -- too many of them for me to count -- came flying out of the well and were scattered across the planet.

Then...one in particular came out of the scattering spheres -- a glowing red and blue one. It hovered in front of us for a moment, seemingly flickering with an odd beat, before it zigzagged back into the scattering cloud of spheres...and disappeared.

I blinked a couple times, then sniffled. Loudly. "That was...that was--"

"Optimus," Elita murmured, drying her tears. "That had to be him!"

"Considering that the Spark had his colors, I should assume so," Alpha Trion remarked. "And now, he will become someone new."

I looked over at Alpha Trion in confusion. "Someone new?"

"Indeed. He was someone before he was Orion Pax, and now he will be someone else. That is how the AllSpark works."

I rubbed my eyes getting a few tears out of my eyes as I looked over at the archivist. "So...you guys have _actual_ reincarnation?"

"If that is what you humans refer to it as, then yes," Alpha Trion replied. "We won't know who it is that he will become, as he will no longer be Optimus or Orion Pax, but know that he will be on this world somewhere."

Elita dried her eyes. "I see what he meant, then...a new transformation." She smiled quietly. "There's still a chance..."

It took me a moment, and then her words hit me like a brick wall.

_ Elita was in love with Optimus. _

I sank down behind Wildfire's hands and buried my head in her fingers, tears coming back in full force again.

"I know that everything's probably going to be okay, but I don't think that _I_ will be for a while," I said quietly.

I heard Wildfire give a broken hum in response. "I don't think that any of us will be."

** Time Break **

It took Jolt and Joshua a few days to put the Ground Bridge back together. By then, Ultra Magnus' wounds had healed, and he was able to move around. Bulkhead and everyone else had practically thrown themselves into starting to repair the planet, too -- starting with Iacon.

Of course, there weren't very many of us. I did try to help, but more often than not, I ended up back in the Hall of Records -- or, what was left of it -- helping Alpha Trion go through what had survived the war and the destruction of the city.

And there was something about him that was bugging me as much as a few other things were.

"Mom got Ratchet to make an English copy of the Covenant," I commented.

Alpha Trion looked up at my words, gaining an interested expression as he closed the book he had in his servos. Most of what we were finding were books like that, but he had said that most Cybertronians made use of datapads more than anything else -- tablets, basically. "Really? And what did you think of our history?"

"Well, it wasn't complete." I lifted up a large piece of glass and threw it off the stack of books that Alpha Trion was slowly working his way though. "There were a few bits that were missing -- like what alien race gave you your cockpits, or what the names of all the Thirteen were." I frowned. "Two of them weren't in there -- one was just _Thirteen,_ and the other guy was a narrator. And it's making me frustrated not knowing their names."

"Ah." Alpha Trion put down the book he had been going through. "That is because those two requested that they remain hidden from the Covenant's pages."

I looked up at the archivist at that. "Requested that they remain hidden? They could do that?"

"Indeed. Three, shall we say, was an observer. He used the Covenant to write down observations of what took place on Cybertron -- from its very beginnings, to the present, to the future. Thirteen, well, he wanted his name to remain secret, as he decided he was going to join the common people and see the world from their eyes. If the others had known he was one of the Thirteen Primes, then they would have treated him far differently."

I blinked at that. "Huh. So, do you think they're still out there, somewhere?"

"One may be closer than you think." Alpha Trion winked. "The other, however...who can say? Leige Maximo and Solus Prime are dead, and Onyx Prime and Micronus Prime joined the AllSpark with Thirteen, but did not return to the land of the living. The others have disappeared into the cosmos and have yet to return. Perhaps they have died a great distance from here, and will never retrace their steps here unless they are mere Sparks, looking for the rebirth that the Well can offer them."

I sat down on the book I had managed to uncover. "Uh huh...so, we'll never really know where they all are, were they?" I paused. "Wait -- you were there before the Great Cataclysm. Does that mean you knew Three personally?"

"Well, those of the Thirteen who remained preferred to be somewhat aloof from the common Cybertronians," Alpha Trion replied. "Three was especially aloof, always writing in that book of his. If I could see him now, I think he would say that he...regretted not being able to interact with us on a more personal level. Especially considering that the Great Cataclysm not only affected Cybertron, but affected the minds of Cybertronians as well. What became fact quickly became fiction, and those of the Thirteen who remained quickly faded into hiding."

"Hmm...sounds like Three was an introvert." When I saw the look Alpha Trion gave me, I explained, "He didn't like social gatherings much, and would have preferred being with his books a lot more."

"Ah." Understanding lit Alpha Trion's optics. "I see. Yes, that is exactly what Three was. Thank you, Maria."

I smiled. "It's no problem. Dad made sure to teach me a few things about word-smithing. Like how 'Orion Pax' basically means 'peaceful warrior'." I paused, considering something. "You know, there's some of that with your name, too. 'Alpha' could mean a leader, or the beginning of an alphabet. Trion, though...." I frowned. "Hmmm."

"Take your time," Alpha Trion said, amused.

"Well, see, that's just it. I know the word 'tri' means 'three,' but--" I stopped short, my eyes widening, and I stared at Alpha Trion. "You! _You're_ Three?!"

The archivist only looked increasingly amused. "I thought that you would find me out, World Jumper."

I quickly fixed the mental list of the Thirteen Primes in my head, changing "Three" to "Alpha Trion." "How? You've been in plain sight _and_ in the shadows this whole time! No wonder Rhinox knows you!"

"Quite," Alpha Trion agreed. "Alchemist Prime and I attempted to assist Bighorn Convoy back in the days before the Great Cataclysm, when he attempted to unite all the different types of Cybertronians together under one banner, no matter their race or preferred faction." He sighed. "Unfortunately, it seems that the Predacons became more well-known than the Maximals ever did."

"Well, Joshua and Jolt are going to fix that," I responded. "They're finding Maximals on Earth so far and reviving them as they go. Maybe they'll find some ancient Predacons too and get them to work with us."

"I should hope so. And perhaps they will be able to reign in that young Predaking, as well. I fear that he might end up becoming too much like his predecessor, but with guidance from all of us, that might change."

I nodded in agreement. "I can't guarantee that I'll be around all the time, because of what I have to do on other worlds, but I'll help out as much as I can." I paused. "I should probably go home and let everyone else know about what happened up here first, though...they're going to be devastated when they hear about what happened to Optimus."

Alpha Trion gained a more sober expression. "Indeed. You were all close to him, I assume?"

"Very. Especially Mom, Dad, Jack, Miko, Raf, Matthew, and me." I sighed, my shoulders sagging. "This is probably going to hit them even harder than everyone leaving to come up here and get the planet back in order." I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs. "I think Jack saw Optimus as the father he never really had."

"I see." Alpha Trion nodded. "Considering your species and how you all carry bonds with others, it will hit him hard. And, I am afraid that I don't know what exactly I could say about my apprentice archivist that would ease the pain on any of you."

I hummed in response. "Yeah....losing someone is hard, but losing someone who's gotten close to you? When you're close to them as well? What Optimus did...he probably knew that he was going to make a lot of people sad because of his decision." My head sank down as I thought of the one Cybertronian that the others hadn't seen hide nor hair of since Optimus' sacrifice. "And what about Megatron? He's been forcibly changed, too...."

"He seems to be set on the path to redemption," Alpha Trion noted. "According to what Wildfire said he'd told them."

I nodded, remembering what Wildfire had said about Megatron's message.

_ "He said that, if you had sympathy for him, there might be a chance that he could redeem himself." _

I sighed. "I don't know what he has in mind, but with a thought like that, he could end up killing himself. He killed a lot of Cybertronians, didn't he?"

Alpha Trion didn't say anything, but I could get the vibe from him that he knew I already knew the answer.

"He might do something to pay everyone back for that." I rose to my feet.

"Maria, this is no fictional tale," Alpha Trion replied. "Dying would only be a way to end the suffering. Megatron's redemption might not be his death, but rather, his attempt to live through everything he has done, and endure the punishment that may result."

"And if that becomes too much for him? What if Megatronus killed himself? A life for a life?"

Alpha Trion leaned forward. "I doubt that Megatron, or Megatronus, would ever kill themselves. Just because they would die does not mean that those they had killed would be brought back. Solus is gone -- as are the many others who came across Megatron's path. And, unfortunately, there is nothing that we can do about it in order to reverse that."

It took me a moment to absorb that, and when the thought had finally settled in my head, I nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll try to keep that in mind."

"Maria?"

Alpha Trion and I looked over, catching sight of Wildfire standing in a partially collapsed doorway.

"They've got the Bridge set up," Wildfire said. "It's time we got you and Joshua home."

I blinked at that, then nodded. "Okay. Is anyone else coming back with us?"

"Just Ratchet and Jolt. I'm planning on visiting soon, but I'm planning on waiting until we get more refugees here to help rebuild. That hidden underground city did have a large number of refugees hiding in it, but there are a lot more coming." Wildfire looked over at Alpha Trion. "Sorry to get rid of your little helper, Archivist."

"No, no, it's fine." Alpha Trion shook his helm. "She needs to return to her own world sometime; I understand that." He gave me a wink. "I will expect you to visit sometime, however, young World Jumper. I would like to hear about your adventures."

I nodded in response, then jumped on my hoverboard and flew over to Wildfire. "Okay. I can't say that I'm going to be happy with the news that we're coming back with -- at least, in part -- but there really is no avoiding it."

Wildfire sighed in response, and nodded. "Yeah. I'm really going to miss that librarian."

"Yeah." I looked up at the sky through a hole in the roof of the building we were in. "He did say to not think of him as completely gone...but I'm still going to miss him." I looked back at Wildfire and steeled myself. "So, where's the Bridge?"

"Up where the Observatory used to be." Wildfire smirked. "Jolt figured that it'd be appropriate to have a Bridge to Earth there, so that we'd be able to travel back and forth anytime. You're going to get a good view of Iacon every time you come here, too."

I smiled. "Sounds good to me. I can't wait to see this place fully repaired."

"Me too, kid. Me, too."


End file.
